Shinigami Kids Society
by Lucanite
Summary: Hitsugaya has been leaving in the middle of work and Matsumoto wonders where he spends his time.
1. Chapter 1

The Shinigami Kids Society

Chapter 1: The Disappearing Boy

"Matsumoto!" shouted 10th division captain Hitsugaya, startling his lieutenant from her nap on the office couch.

Matsumoto gave a slight yelp as she fell off the couch and landed heavily on the floor.

"Yes Tou- I mean yes Taicho," she said quickly.

"I'm going out now, so could you please stay awake and watch over the office and perhaps actually **do your work**," he said gesturing to her desk which was covered with piles of paperwork.

Matsumoto pouted on the floor for a moment before standing up and walking to her desk. Hitsugaya quickly straighten his desk and walked briskly toward the office door, stopping once to glare at Matsumoto as if to say "You better not fall asleep again."

"Say Taicho where are you going?" asked Matsumoto, she'd been curious at her little Taicho's recent behavior.

"Nowhere, just off training," he said quickly before shunpoeing away.

As soon as he left Matsumoto went back to lying on the couch. She was thinking to herself over the craziness of the past weeks. The Shinigami Women's Association had been taken over by Nanao and Nemu, who were fed up with Yarichu's mistreatment of them. The former president had threatened to cry to Kenpachi, forcing the association to find a new hideout where the vengeful Yachiru and Kenpachi couldn't find them.

"Serves the little witch right," thought Matsumoto, "Messing with my soul-candy and selling the tapes of my gigai putting the moves on Ikkaku."

She laughed at the thought though. It had taken Yumichika and the rest of 11th division to hold the bald shinigami down when he saw the tape.

"But back to the taicho's behavior," she thought reining in her wayward thoughts, "he's been going out three times a week for four hours in the afternoon for almost two weeks now."

This was indeed strange for Hitsugaya Toushiro, who seemed to think it was his life's goal to be the only captain out of the entire Gotei 13 who actually did his paperwork.

"He's always so stuffy, in this office from morning to evening with hardly a break for lunch," she sighed, "He's so cute though when I find him asleep on his desk with the little ink prints on his cheek." She smiled at the memories. Each time she found him like that, she would pick him up, careful not to disturb him and take to his rooms down the hall. She would tuck him and say goodnight with a quick kiss to his forehead. Then she would hurry back and straighten his desk so he would think that he'd left on his own. It was a good thing he was a heavy sleeper or her cute little taicho would have frozen her if he woke up in her arms.

Matsumoto sat up on the couch, "But now just where is he going? Training…yeah right, lame excuse." She pulled her knees up to her chest and smiled. She was curious, as curious as a cat and well her zanpakuto was Hainiko. What sparked her interest was the look in his eyes though, when he had turned to leave and thought she wasn't looking. His mask of indifference had dropped and for a moment she had seen something she'd thought she never see, a look of happiness in his eyes.

"That does it," she said while standing up, "I'm going to find out what he's been up to."

_Meanwhile-_

Toshiro Hitsugaya landed on top of a roof of a two-story building on the outskirts of Seireitei. He looked around quickly to make sure no one was following him. Satisfied that he had made it here undetected he dropped down to the street below. A rare smile played on his lips as he walked up to the door and knocked twice.

"What's the password," a high pitched voice said.

"Watermelons," he replied and the door opened.

_Back to Rangiku-_

Matsumoto stepped out of the 10th division and quickly scanned the area and feeling a familiar icy trail she set out following Hitsugaya's reiatsu. No matter how hard he tried to mask it he could never completely hide it from Matsumoto.

As she followed the trail she noticed that she was entering one of the deserted sections of Seireitei.

"Why would he be out here," she thought worriedly, "Certainly not for training….but what could it be?"

She landed on top of a building and felt the familiar pulse of her taicho's reiatsu below, along with several others. After determining that everyone was on the first floor, she snuck in through a balcony on the second. She walked around until she heard voices coming from below. Satisfied she sat down cross-legged on the floor.

"Now to see what you're up to, buddy," she said like a mom catching her kid in the act.

She whispered a quick kido chant and placed her hand on the floor. A large section became transparent so she could see below. It was a technique she had learned from Soifon, who was commander of the secret mobile corp. It allowed the user to spy through solid objects. She had used it often to get the best stories for the women's association. What she saw below made any story of hers pale in comparison.

In the brightly lit room below was a long wooden and seated there was the most unlikely group of shinigami she would have thought to see in the same room. At the far end of the table sat the disposed president of the women's association, the pink haired terror Yachiru herself, with her soul phone out. She looked like she was showing the person next her something. Wait, Matsumoto did a double-take, was that Kiyone. Well the girl had been missing the women's association meetings, but what was she doing here?

On the other side she saw Hanataro and Rin sitting together also discussing something over their phones. "There's no way those two aren't related somehow," she thought, "They're practically twins side by side. Oh, cute Rin just gave Hanataro some candy" Hanataro happily sucked on the piece of candy Rin had offered him.

"Oi, Whitey-chan, it's your turn," Yachiru called out.

Matsumoto watched as all eyes turned to the white haired taicho, who was sitting next to Kiyone. Amazingly he didn't rebuke her for not addressing him properly.

The said taicho stood up looking a little embarrassed. "Um well," he stuttered, "My vote is for Bejeweled because it involves strategy and having to see the whole picture at once; plus it looks nice."

Matsumoto had to pinch herself to stop from laughing out loud. This couldn't be true. Her taicho, the boy genius who always had to act so mature, was arguing with the other shinigami kids about what games were best for their soul phones!

"Yay for Whitey-chan," Yarchiru chirped happily and threw him a piece of candy.

"You know I don't eat candy Yachiru," he said looking a little afraid of the pink piece of hard candy in his hands..

"Come on Hitsugaya," Rin said, "Candy is the greatest invention ever."

"Don't worry, it won't kill you," said Hanataro the medical Shinigami, still happily sucking on his own piece.

"Yeah, join the fun," said Kiyone punching him lightly in the arm as her own form of encouragement.

"It's good," Yachiru said grinning evilly before going for his weak spot, "Plus… it's **watermelon flavored**."

Matsumoto held her breath. Was he actually going to do it? She watched as he carefully unwrapped the candy and then slowly brought it towards his mouth. He hesitated for a second before popping it in.

_Hitsugaya's thoughts-_

Hitsugaya couldn't stifle the giggle that escaped his mouth. It tasted good, wonderfully good. Why had he been so against candy before. Oh yeah candy was for kids, but here it didn't matter, because no one was going to tell. He knew he was probably grinning like an idiot in front of everyone, but for once he didn't care.

_Back to Matsumoto-_

She couldn't believe it. He had laughed. Hitsugaya had actually laughed when he tasted the candy, and now he was smiling. Not his usual smirk, but smiling. All the sharpness of his features seemed to melt away as sat there smiling savoring the piece of candy.

"Why doesn't he do that more?" she thought, "It makes him look so cute, oh wait that's probably why."

Hitsugaya simply said to the others, "It's good."

"Told you so," they all said together. Hitsugaya blushed lightly at the mild rebuke.

"Alright, I guess that's enough for today," said Yachiru earning a moan of disappointment from Kiyone.

"I didn't get any today," she complained.

Yachiru threw some at her and she threw the some more at Hitsugya. "You need to catch up with rest of us," she told him.

He grinned again and told her thanks.

"Next meeting for the Shinigami Kids Society will be held same time as always, so none of you be late," commanded Yachiru.

Hitsugaya blushed at Yachiru's name for their group but didn't say anything.

When they all started to get up, Matsumoto knew she had to get out of there fast to escape detection. She dispelled the kido and shunpoed out of there as fast as she could. Once she was far enough away she slowed down to a more leisurely pace.

"They were all so cute together," she thought, "Secretly meeting and having fun together, who would have thought taicho would be involved?" She knew she couldn't gossip about this though. Poor Kiyone would die of embarrassment if her older sister knew and Sentaro would never let her live it down.

Hitsugaya she knew would probably never speak to her again; if he knew she told. Besides she could never bring herself to hurt her little taicho. She always watched out for him, making sure he slept and ate regularly, as he was prone to forget while doing his work. It was probably just maternal instinct she thought; but she truly, deeply cared for Toushiro.

But a secret this big was too much for one person. She had to tell somebody, but who could she trust. A slow smile crept across her face as she thought of the perfect person.

**Wow first chapter done. Please review and give me your ideas!**


	2. Chapter 2

Shinigami Kids Society

Chapter 2: Of Secrets to Good to Keep

There was always a day in-between Hitsugaya's "training sessions", so Matsumoto snuck out of the office the next day, when Hitsugaya was called out to give a report to the commander general. She left a note saying she went out drinking with Kira and Hisagi. It was her usual behavior, so he would have no reason to suspect her.

"She laughed at her taicho's behavior though. He had hidden himself behind a mountain of paperwork this morning. When she took a peak, he had been happily sitting there filling out paperwork with one of Yachiru's candies in his mouth. When she asked what was so tasty he had a looked of a cornered rabbit on his face and quickly said it was a cough-drop. The look of fear in those teal eyes though was enough to send her into giggles even now.

"Oh taicho," she thought now, "There's nothing wrong with enjoying yourself and being happy. You are a boy genius and also, after all, still a boy."

She was walking briskly away from the 10th division. She smiled as she passed 11th division, seeing Yachiru beating the crap out of men much older and larger than her. She glance at the 12th division and hurried past it. You never knew when Captain Kurotsuchi was looking for "volunteers" for his latest experiments. Letting out a sigh of relief as she was out of the danger zone she reached her destination the 13th division. As she entered the compound she saw a familiar sight.

"Hello Kiyone," she said as she smiled at the small girl as she wrestled on the ground with Sentaro. Near them on a wooden platter was a teapot and a basket with packets of tea leaves, which meant they were fighting to see who would bring their captain his tea.

"Oh Matsumoto-san," Kiyone replied, hastily getting up and dusting herself off. Sentero followed suit. "What brings you to the thirteenth?" she asked.

"I was wondering if I might speak to Captain Ukitake"

"Of course, I was just about to bring the taicho his tea," as she said this she seized the opportunity and quickly snatched up the tray and began to walk towards the captain's office leaving Sentaro staring angrily at her.

Matsumoto just shook her head and followed after her, typical behavior of those two.

When they reached Ukitake's office Kiyone knocked lightly and said "Taicho I've brought your tea and a visitor for you."

"Ah, wonderful, please bring them in Kiyone," was the reply.

When she opened the door Matsumoto saw just how different the office was from her own. The desk was still a main focal point, but there were very few papers on it compared to the mountains her taicho tried to tackle. There were also chairs set up facing the desk to make guests more comfortable. One wall was a panel that was open to reveal an outdoor garden. A small table with two chairs was set up on the terrace so people could sit and enjoy the garden in comfort. All in all it seemed much more relaxing than her own office. Ukitake was already seated at the table with a cup in his hands.

"Matsumoto, what a nice surprise please have a seat," he gestured at the other chair, which Matsumoto quickly sat in "Kiyone would please get another cup for our guest."

"Yes captain," Kiyone set the tray on the table and fetched another cup from a drawer in her captain's desk.

"Here you go," she said with a smile, happy to be helping out, as she handed it to Matsumoto.

Ukitake poured Matsumoto and himself some tea and took a long drink from his. "Tea always makes the day better," he said quietly.

Turning his attention to Matsumoto he said, "What may I do for you?"

"Oh nothing," she said setting her cup on the table, "I was just wondering if I could speak to you privately?" she added quietly. She cast her eyes in at Kiyone, who was standing back in the office in case they needed anything else.

"Kiyone," Ukitake called, "Could you and Sentaro please deliver our divisions reports to the commander-general's office; I don't feel up to it."

"Of course taicho," Kiyone said with a worried look on her face, "You just stay here and rest." She grabbed a few papers from the desk and quickly left the office.

"That should give us enough time," said Ukitake. He took another drink from his tea and added, "How's Shiro-chan?"

"The little workaholic part of the reason I wanted to talk to you today."

"Oh no, he hasn't made himself sick," the distress in the older captain's face was obvious.

"No, nothing like that; let me ask you, have noticed anything weird about Kiyone lately?"

"Kiyone? Well she been going out more often, but she said the women's society was having more meetings than usual."

"Well I know what the little sneaks have been up to…" and she proceeded to relate her tale.

"Kiyone involved in a group like that and Shiro-chan too," Ukitake said disbelievingly, "I have to see this for myself."

Matsumoto smiled, "Well I figured you say that, so why don't you meet me outside 10th division tomorrow when Kiyone leaves?"

Ukitake thought about it for a moment, then smirked, "Sure thing, this sounds interesting."

"Also, please keep this a secret. I don't know how they would react if they knew we knew."

"Of course," said Ukitake, "I would never hurt little Kiyone and Shiro-chan. This is probably good for them, being with others their own age."

"Yeah," Matsumoto sighed.

She stood up to leave. As she walked toward the door she added, "One more thing, bring a cushion, there's no furniture on the second floor."

"Thanks for the tip"

"Hm interesting indeed," Matsumoto thought as she exited the compound. She saw Kiyone and Sentaro racing back, an angry expression on Sentaro, who was behind, and a joyful expression on Kiyone as she shrieked happily that she won. Matsumoto just shook her head and headed out to enjoy the evening.

_The next day-Hitsugaya's thoughts_

"Ugh, Matsumoto came in with a hangover again. Not only does she leave work early but she also comes in impaired the next day. Why do I put up with her." Hitsugaya glare at his lieutenant, who was now napping on the couch. "Well she is pretty nice to me, except she calls me cute all the time and hugs me; but she does call me captain and shows me respect in that area. I guess it's because she's always believed in me."

With mellow thoughts depressing him Hitsugaya opened one of his desk drawers. With a quick look to make sure no one was watching, he pulled out one of Yachiru's candies. The smallest of smiles appeared on his face as he popped it into his mouth. "Last one I'll have to ask Yarichu for some more tonight."

Strangely, he found himself actually looking forward to tonight. At first Yachiru had begged him and pleaded with him to come. Finally just to get some quiet he had agreed, not really knowing what the request was anyway. The first meeting hadn't been that bad. They all had just kinda talked a bit about the day to day affairs in soul society. He had actually talked a bit about the pressure of being a captain, but the strange thing to him was that they had actually listened. The few times he had tried to talk to adul….well people older than him, he wasn't a kid; he could tell they were just tuning him out. But Yachiru and the others had actually listened to him and sympathized with his plight. They knew how hard it was to be younger than everyone else. After that meeting, without even Yachiru's badgering, he had found strangely wanting to go back.

"Only four more hours," he thought looking at his clock, "Maybe I can finish all this beforehand." And with that thought he went back to paperwork with a vengeance.

_Later in the day-_

Matsumoto ran to her quarters and grabbed a cushion. Predictably Hitsugaya had left five minutes beforehand for his training. Making her way out of the division compound she found Ukitake waiting for her in the street with a cushion under his arm.

"He just now left," she said to him.

"Good, Kiyone left ten minutes ago."

"Alright then follow me,"

They both shunpoed off towards the outskirts of Seireitei.

When they reached their destination they both quietly tiptoed through the second level till they came to the spot that Matsumoto indicated. Setting her cushion down she quickly whispered the kido chant and the floor below became transparent. Ukitake sat down to enjoy the show.

"It's your turn today Hanatoro," Yachiru said jumping up and down, "What are we going to do today."

"Um well I couldn't think of anything special so I just brought this," while he said this he reached in his pack and brought out a colorful box with the word OPERATION in big, bold letters on the front. "Orihime gave it to me last time I was in the real world, but I don't really know what to do with it."

Rin took the box from Hanataro and opened it. He found the directions and quickly scanned it.

"Oh it's a game Hanataro."

"A game," said Yachiru, "Perfect, good going Hana." She tossed him a piece of candy.

Matsumoto saw her taicho shift in his seat a little. "He likes challenges and I know he's out of candy already, I checked the hiding place in his desk already."

"How do you play," Hitsugaya asked, hoping for an opportunity to win some candy.

"Well," Rin took the game board out of the box, "It seems we have to use these tweezers to remove these bone pieces from these holes, like we were performing surgery."

"Doesn't sound hard at all," said Kiyone, who was also looking interested.

"Ah, but there's a catch, if you don't have a steady hand and touch the sides," Rin demonstrated this making the buzzer go off; "the patient dies. The goal is to see how many pieces you can remove without the patient dying."

"Me first, me first," said Yachiru, grabbing at the board. She lowered the tweezers in her sugar-hyped hands and was rewarded by a loud buzz.

"No fair," she complained, "Retry." She rewarded again with a loud buzz.

"This impossible," she exclaimed.

"You just have to have a steady hand," said Hanataro. He took the board from Yachiru and proceeded to quickly remove the pieces. He got half-way through before a buzz ended his turn.

"Pretty good," said Kiyone claiming the board for herself, "But I'll do better."

She got to her third piece before her hand slipped.

"Crap."

"I wanna try," said Rin waving his hand in the air like he was in grade-school. Kiyone pushed the board to him.

"It's like working with computer circuitry," he announced. He managed to get about halfway like Hanataro.

"It's your turn Toushiro," Rin said as he pushed the board in Hitsugaya's direction.

Both Ukitake and Matsumoto were amazed when the said captain didn't correct Rin about calling him by his first name and simply took the board.

"Ok," Hitsugaya thought, "just take it nice and easy, you can do this."

The others watched as he slowly began to take the pieces, out a little pile of bones growing beside him. He started at the bottom of the body and worked his way up. He missed on the second to the last bone.

"Argh, so close," he muttered.

"But Whitey you did great," said Yachiru. She through some candy at him, "Here's your prize, I got some more watermelon flavored ones, because I know you like them."

On the second floor Matsumoto heard Ukitake whisper to himself, "Watermelon flavored…?"

"Let's play again," said Kiyone, wanting another crack at the game.

They played two more rounds with Hanataro winning one and Rin the other.

"Well that's it for today," said Yachiru, "Next time it's Rin's turn."

"Hey I was talking to Hanataro about what to do," said Rin, "I found some movies from the real world in the science division archives."

"And I told him," said Hanataro, "that Orihime said that when you watch a new movie you should have a sleep-over with your friends."

"A sleep-over, awesome idea," said Yachiru, "We'll start the next meeting at seven instead of three. Bring your pajamas and sleeping bags."

"I'll bring snacks," volunteered Kiyone.

"Me too," said Hanataro.

"Alright then see you all then," said Yachiru as she headed out the door.

"Hitsugaya looks a little uneasy," Matsumoto thought, "Wait; he doesn't have a sleeping bag or even pajamas, poor little deprived taicho. I'll take care of that later."

When they all had left Matsumoto and Ukitake got up and stretched.

"That was very enlightening," said Ukitake, "I'm glad they're making friends, poor Kiyone always seemed so lonely with just Sentaro to hang around."

"Yes," agreed Matsumoto, "taicho is the same way. He tries to act so mature all the time and keeps himself bottled in; I'm glad he found friends he can be himself around."

As they were heading back Ukitake said, "I wonder what movie they're going to watch?"

"Want to find out?" asked Matsumoto.

"Seven right."

"See you then."

**Wow another chapter done, for some reason this took me forever to write. Anyway review people. Tell me your ideas. If you want something to happen in the stories or if you want a character added I may just work it in. So come on and hit the review button.**


	3. Chapter 3

Shinigami Kids Society

Chapter 3: Kids and Horror Shouldn't Mix

Ukitake sat in his office mulling over what Matsumoto had shown him. He had always had a soft spot for the younger shinigami and tried to look out for them. He worried that their duties might be too hard on them. He always tried to encourage them. He had promoted Kiyone to his third seat so she could follow in the steps of her sister that she secretly admired so much. When he was visiting Unohana, he always made sure to stop and ask Hanataro how everything was going; he knew the poor boy was bullied by the other squads. He sent his regular gifts of candy to Hitsugaya and also to Rin; the latter always was more excited than the former to receive them. Yachiru at least he knew was happy. Zaraki took good care of her and everybody knew she wasn't afraid to express herself.

Another thought also wormed its way through his mind with his deep contemplation, "Watermelon flavored? Why didn't I think of that before? I'll have to slip some in the next candy-basket."

_Hitsugaya-_

"There's got to be something here," Hitsugaya moaned out loud.

Hitsugaya was frantically tearing apart his room looking for anything he could use for the sleep-over. He didn't really have anything he knew, but maybe there was something buried away where he had forgotten it. Part of him wondered why he was so desperate to find appropriate attire for something like a sleep-over; but he didn't pay that part any attention.

"Wait what's this," he said as pulled out a bundle of clothes buried deep in his closet. He had been hoping to find some old gift from Himinori or Matsumoto that he had forgotten to throw away. Looking at it now he remembered why he usually through them away. He normally wouldn't be caught dead in something like this; but he was desperate. Sighing he threw the bundle on his bed and then proceeded to search for a sleeping bag under there.

_Matsumoto-_

Matsumoto chuckled quietly as she listened to her taicho's noisy search on the other side of his door. Satisfied that he would find all the items that she had carefully hidden away; she walked back to the office and sat down at her desk.

He had been excited and nervous all day. She could tell he had been barely able to concentrate on his work. He had been fidgety and took every excuse to leave the office for some errand. Definitely not his usual behavior.

She looked up when he came in. Man he still had that slightly worried expression on his face. Why was still worried, she knew he had found the stuff she had left for him; so why would he still be nervous? Wait, of course, the poor kid had no experience in these kinds of situations. Hitsugaya was terrified of new situations where he didn't know how to act or what to do. He hated feeling awkward.

Well, there wasn't much she could do about; but maybe she could take his mind off of tonight for a bit. She quietly walked over to his desk, where he sat staring blankly at a piece of paper. Before he could register her presence she wrapped him up in one her hugs.

"Agh, Mat-Matsumoto," stuttered Hitsugaya, who felt rudely interrupted from his thoughts.

"You looked down taicho so I'm cheering you up," she said, not letting him go. She ran her fingers through his hair and was shocked when she saw his eyes close for a second in acceptance. Then they popped open and he started to wriggle again.

"Hey, let me go," he said, his face going red.

"Sure thing taicho," she released him and went back to her desk.

Giving him hugs had always been her normal routine, usually just tease him; but this was the first time she thought that he had actually enjoyed it, even if only for a brief second.

"Aren't you just full of surprises," she thought.

He didn't leave for usual "training session, simply saying that he was tired and wanted to finish work early. She left before him though wanting to actually get there before them for a change. Her efforts where wasted though as she saw Rin and Yachiru already arriving. She hid on a nearby rooftop and watched the comical scene below.

Rin was carrying some equipment and his backpack while frantically calling out, "Please be careful Yachiru that's a very fragile piece of technology."

Yarichu was carrying a large television, balanced on one hand above her head, "I know that," she said turning her head to look at him. Smack, she ran into the door.

Rin winced. "Should have asked Hitsugaya," he muttered.

Once they were both in Matsumoto emerged from her hiding spot and quickly made her way to the second floor window. To her surprise she found Ukitake already waiting for her, kido already in place.

"Ah Matsumoto, Kiyone left early so I came to see what she was up to."

"She's already here?" asked Matsumoto.

"Yes, there's a small kitchen on the first floor she was baking some cookies last time I checked."

Matsumoto stretched out on her cushion and saw that there was a small table stand by Ukitake. On it was thermos and two cups.

Ukitake saw where she was looking at and explained, "It's going to be cold tonight, so I brought some tea." He poured her a cup, which she accepted gratefully and turned her attention below.

Yachiru had set the TV down and pushed the table against the wall before running off somewhere. Rin was setting up the DVD player up and making sure the TV still worked after Yachiru's treatment of it. Upon hearing the commotion Kiyone came into the room from the hall-way.

"Hey guys," she said.

"You're already in your pajamas," Rin said.

"They're comfortable."

Kiyone was wearing a pink tee-shirt with pink checkered pajama bottoms.

"Wow," Matsumoto thought, "She actually looks like a girl."

"Yay, we match!" screamed Yachiru as she came running, now dressed in pink as well.

"Well the system is set up so I'm going to go change now," said Rin grabbing his backpack, "the bathrooms are at the end of the hallway right."

"Yeah you can't miss it," replied Kiyone.

When he left, the girls heard the sound of the front door opening. Hanataro and Hitsugaya walked in both carrying several large cushions.

"Sorry we're late everyone," said Hanataro, "I asked Toushiro to help me carry these."

"Don't worry about it we just got it set up," said Kiyone.

"Cushions good idea," said Yachiru, "I claim the pink one." She quickly snatched it out of Hanataro's arms.

"Where's Rin?" Hanataro asked.

"In the bathroom getting ready," Kiyone pointed down the hall.

"Oh guess I'll get ready too, come on Toushiro," said Hanataro.

Hitsugaya set down his cushions and reluctantly followed Hanataro.

"Does Shiro-chan have everything needs?" asked Ukitake, "He seems a little apprehensive"

Matsumoto giggled, "Don't worry I took care of that."

The three boys came back a little while later. Rin was wearing matching red tee-shirt and pajama pants. Hanataro was wearing a light green tee-shirt and dark blue sweat pants. Hitsugaya though seemed like he was trying to hide behind the other two. He was wearing baby-blue pajama pants checkered with dark blue, with a baby-blue tee-shirt that had the words I'M THE BOSS printed in white on the front.

"Matsumoto you are cruel," Ukitake said as he grinned.

Matsumoto just smirked back.

Hitsugaya was already blushing when the two moved out of the way. But then Kiyone screamed, "Hitsugaya I never knew you were so cute!" his blush went tomato red.

"I'm not cute!" he shouted at her, "I just couldn't find anything else to wear."

"It's ok Toushiro it's not a bad thing," Kiyone said still laughing at his face.

"Whatever," he muttered.

"Come on let's start," said Yachiru, "Grumpy-pants will get over it."

"Wait I have to make the popcorn I brought," said Hanataro.

"I have some sweets in the kitchen," said Kiyone, "Let's go get are snacks and come back."

They walked off toward the kitchen. Hitsugaya was still muttering that he was not grumpy.

Matsumoto finally let out the laugh she had been holding in. "Taicho, taicho," she said while wiping tears from her eyes, "You're so cute when you're embarrassed."

"They seem to be good friends, don't they," said Ukitake.

"Yes, Yachiru actually helping Rin and Hanataro going and asking Hitsugaya for help. I think they were all terrified of taicho before, but now they see he's just the same as them."

"It's good to develop strong friendships now, they'll need them when they get older," Ukitake said, thinking of Kyoraku and Yamamoto.

"Yes they will," agreed Matsumoto who was also thinking of all her friends. A shadow crossed her mind as the memory of Gin came up, but she quickly shoved it down. The kids certainly didn't need friends like that.

They came back in a few minutes later. Hitsugaya, she was happy to see, had gotten a bowl of popcorn and one of Kiyone's cookies. Rin though was shoving cookies and what looked gummy worms into his mouth at record pace.

"What movie did you get Rin?" Hitsugaya asked as Rin turned the Television on.

"Oh something called _The Grudge_, I asked my colleagues for a cool movie and they handed this to me."

Yachiru quickly turned out the lights, which were at the other end of the hall and ran back, they all gathered around the TV.

As soon as the menu screen came up Matsumoto heard Ukitake mutter, "Are they even allowed to watch this?"

After the first scene Rin stopped eating, his face turning a sickly green color. Matsumoto looked and saw her taicho's eyes as wide as dinner plates. The kids began to unconsciously scoot closer together. Only Yachiru appeared unfazed as she happily squealed as the ghost-women took people. Then the weird boy ghost began making cat sounds which freaked her out. She jumped into Hanataro's lap and clutched at his tee-shirt, he didn't look any better as his own shaking hands clung to her for dear life.

Rin and Kiyone were on either side of Hitsugaya each clutching one of his arms, Kiyone even looked like she had tears welling up in her eyes; but it was like Hitsugaya didn't even know they were there as his eyes were still glued to the screen. The horror and distress on his face was almost too much for the two adults to watch.

Ukitake got up saying he was going somewhere for a bit and not to worry. Matsumoto was more than a little worried though, the movie was even creeping her out. He came back a second later though.

Finally Hitsugaya couldn't take it anymore. With a shrill scream he buried his face in Rin's shoulder sobbing. Rin was freaked out as well, but he felt really bad for having brought the movie. He put his arm around Hitsugaya, whose little body was trembling.

"It's ok Toushiro, none of its real, it's almost over." His own voice was trembling, making it sound like he was trying to convince himself; but gradually Hitsugaya stopped shaking. He did not move his head from Rin's shoulder though.

"At last," Matsumoto thought as the movie ended, "The poor kids are scarred for life. Those jerks at 12th division will feel my wrath later for giving a movie like that to a kid."

She looked over at Ukitake, whose eyes told her that he was thinking the same thing.

Yachiru had mustered up enough courage to leave the safety of the group and turn on the lights. Freed from her, Hanataro went over to Rin and Hitsugaya to make sure that Hitsugaya was ok. They all breathed a collective sigh of relief when the lights came on.

Hitsugaya released Rin, who said that he was sorry. Hitsugaya told him not to worry about it, wiping a few tears from his eyes.

Yachiru came back carrying an electric lantern. "Where did you find that?" they asked.

"It was in the kitchen, when I went back there."

Matsumoto shot a glance at Ukitake, who smiled back at her, letting her know where the lantern had come from.

The kids though looked at it like it was their savior. Yachiru set it in the middle of the floor and they all began to spread out their sleeping bags, rather close to one another Matsumoto noted. Once they had settled in Yachiru ran and switched off the lights again.

Five minutes later Rin sat up, "Guys this is going to sound really embarrassing but could someone come with me to the bathroom, I don't want to go alone."

"I'll go with you," said Hitsugaya. He really had to go, but had been too afraid to go by himself and too embarrassed to ask anybody to go with him.

They both got up and walked to the edge of the lanterns light. They stopped there, both unwilling to enter the darkness. Hitsugaya felt Rins hand suddenly grab his own. Together they both walked into the darkness.

Matsumoto was still watching and a few minutes later heard the thunderous pounding as both boys were running back as fast as they could from whatever terrors they thought lurked in the darkness. They boys returned to their sleeping bags and one by one drifted off to sleep.

Matsumoto and Ukitake stood up to go. They dispelled the kido and were about to leave when they heard a small whimper come from below. Deciding to investigate they headed downstairs. Quietly they made their way to main room with its group of sleeping shinigami. The whimpering came from Hitsugaya whose small face was scrunched up in fear from whatever nightmare he was experiencing.

Matsumoto cautiously made her way over to him. Kneeling next to him, she began to stroke his hair. After a little while his face relaxed and his whimpers ceased. She zipped his sleeping bag up all the way, to make sure that he stayed warm throughout the night. She looked over and saw Ukitake zipping Yachiru's bag up as the girl had just used it as a blanket. Once they were sure that the kids would be safe and warm through the night they left.

They were silent most of the way back. Ukitake was the one who broke the silence.

"Matsumoto would you mind if I told someone else about this?"

"I don't want them to be the laughing talk of Seireitei."

"I trust this person and she has just as much right to know as we do."

Matsumoto guessed who he meant. "Fine, I just hope that after tonight the taicho isn't afraid to sleep by himself."

"I don't think we have to worry about them watching horror movies anytime soon," Ukitake said jokingly.

**Man this chapter was hard to right. I decided on a horror movie this time; but as you now no they probably won't do that again. Maybe in a later chapter they'll try a nicer movie. Now come people review. Tell if you liked it or not!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I just wanted to say thank you to all my reviewers so far. You guys have been encouraging and given me a lot of great ideas. **

Shinigami Kids Society

Chapter 4: Nightmares in the Dark

Matsumoto was a little worried. Hitsugaya didn't look well when he stumbled into the office an hour late. His hair was a wreck; his clothes were a wrinkled mess, and still had the backpack on. Her usually neat and tidy taicho looked like he had gone straight to work without even pausing to look in the mirror. He just stood in the doorway for a minute, as if deciding if he really wanted to come in.

"Are you ok taicho?" she asked.

Hitsugaya looked up at her with lost and forlorn eyes. For a moment he was tempted tell her that he was scared out of his mind; to tell her that that after the others had left this morning he had ran straight here, afraid to be alone. But his pride wouldn't let him. He muttered something about being fine before stepping into the office.

He tried to act casual as he quickly scanned every inch of the room, especially the dark corners. He stopped to look under his desk, before sitting down and arranging his paper stacks like a wall around him, in an attempt to shield him from the rest of the world.

Matsumoto looked over at the little paper stack fortress. Although Hitsugaya's antics were amusing, she was worried about how pale his face was. She hoped he wasn't making himself sick. When she hadn't heard a peep out of him in over two hours; she went over and pushed one of the paper stacks aside.

"Are you alright," she asked softly.

He looked at her a moment with that same lost expression in his eyes, before they hardened again. Sighing she made her way back to her desk. He really was too stubborn for his own good.

Matsumoto headed towards her quarters. She had gone out with Kira and Hisagi after work, but for once sake hadn't been involved, such a letdown. She turned down her hallway and was heading to her room when she heard the sound of someone of crying. The only other quarters on this hallway were the taicho's. Worried, she headed towards his rooms.

She found him in bed thrashing and writhing, sobbing furiously. "Oh, little one," she said hurrying over.

She tried to hold him down before he accidentally hurt himself; but as soon as she touched him his whole body flinched away.

"No, no, please don't hurt me, leave me alone," he sobbed.

"The poor thing," she thought, "He isn't even awake."

She reached out and gently brushed his hair away from his tear-stained face.

"Easy now, little one," she said in a calm, reassuring voice; just loud enough to be heard above his crying.

His thrashing eased, but he was still crying pretty hard. Sighing at the pitiful sight, she picked him up and cradled him in her arms. She noted that he was wearing the soft baby blue pajamas she had gotten him.

"Hush now little one," she said gently, she began to stroke his hair. "Nobody is going to hurt you; I have you now, you're safe with me."

His sobbing eased, finally ending in a strangled little hiccup. Matsumoto took the edge of her robe and began to wipe the tear stains off his face. When she tried to lay him back down he began to whimper and both his hands reached out and grasped her robe. He weakly snuggled up to her chest and sighed.

"Your too cute taicho," she whispered and resumed stroking his hair.

Slowly he drifted off into deeper sleep, his grip on her robe becoming weaker and weaker until finally letting go. She carefully eased him back down on to his bed. Gathering the blankets which had been thrown around the room, she tucked him in tightly. In sleep Hitsugaya's face lost the cold demeanor he tried so hard to keep up. In now had a soft expression reminiscent of a cherub or so thought Matsumoto. Smiling to herself, she knelt down and kissed his forehead goodnight. When she came up she was frowning though. His forehead felt to warm. She'd have to check his temperature in the morning. For now, just let him sleep.

She made her way back to her own rooms. Quickly changing into a nightgown she found her bed and was soon lost to sleep.

She was awakened by the sound of her door opening. There was a crash on the floor. She quickly got up and switched her light on. Her eyes were still blurry from sleep, so she thought she saw a mass of blue and white sprawled in the doorway to her bedroom. She gave her eyes a good rub and realized that the mass was in fact Hitsugaya, who had tripped while sleepwalking. She looked at her clock; it had only been an hour since she had laid him down. What was he doing up?

"Taicho, what are you doing here?"

He gave a moan in response. She knelt down and pulled him up into a sitting position. His eyes had a dazed expression that signaled that he wasn't really awake and there were fresh tear stains on his cheeks. He had been crying again. Frowning Matsumoto put her hand to his forehead. It was warmer than before.

"Taicho….," she began, but was cut off when the said little captain began gagging. Quickly Matsumoto scooped him up in her arms before running for the bathroom. She made it just in time, setting the boy before the toilet. As Hitsugaya vomited, she wrapped an arm around him to steady him. As he ended he gave a sob of pure misery and started to cry again. She turned him around on the floor and went and grabbed a washcloth. Wetting it with cold water, she proceeded to wipe off his face. As she stood up again to put it away he gave a fresh cry and held his arms out to her, making grasping motions with his hands.

"Come here, little one," she said as she lifted him by his armpits. He wrapped his arms around her neck and proceeded to cry into her shoulder.

"Your really sick aren't you baby," she cooed softly as rubbed his back. "Otherwise you would have probably frozen me by now."

He stopped crying and suddenly felt heavier. Matsumoto realized that he had fallen asleep in her arms. Smiling to herself she walked back to her room. She turned off lights and lay down with her taicho curled up on top of her, his arms still around her neck.

"Now hopefully I won't wake as a popsicle," she thought as she drifted off to sleep.

**Thanks again for the reviews and keep them coming. They encourage me to write more. This chapter was interesting to write so give me your thoughts on it.**


	5. Chapter 5

Shinigami Kids Society

Chapter 5: Of Friends and Sick Taichos

Matsumoto awoke to the chiming of hell butterflies. Opening her eyes she saw two of them hovering above her. She felt something tickle her chin and realized it was a spike of hair from the small bundle on her chest that still had his arms wrapped around her neck. Carefully she reached and pried the small hands loose. She slowly sat up, shifting the sleeping Hitsugaya onto her lap. Looking at him she realized that he was even paler than last night. His forehead felt fiery to her touch.

The two hell butterflies were both from the division's third seat, one for her and one for the captain wondering where the heck they were. "Oops," she thought as she looked at the clock. It was already ten; even she was never this late.

She sent one butterfly back to the third seat, saying that neither of them would be coming in today. The other she sent to 4th division, requesting that they send someone down to her quarters to examine Hitsugaya.

Her duties done, she turned her attention back to the captain sleeping in her lap. He was frowning in his sleep. Not his usual scowl, but an expression of pain or discomfort. To Matsumoto it made him look helpless. She thought back to his antics last night. Sitting there on her bathroom floor, crying and holding his arms out to her; wanting her to pick him up and comfort him. He had seemed so pitiful, helpless and yet adorable. Not at all like her taicho's usual icy exterior.

She took her hand and began to run it through his tangled hair. His face softened from this comforting gesture.

"Now what are you going to scream at me, when you wake up I wonder?" Matsumoto thought with a slight smile. Making her taicho annoyed had always been one of her hobbies.

As if he heard her thoughts, the little captain began to awaken from his sleep.

_Hitsugaya-_

Hitsugaya slowly drifted away from the warm haze of sleep. He immediately regretted it, everything hurt. His head felt like he had taken a jump headfirst off the shrine of penitence. Painful chills were making their way up and down his body and the condition of his stomach was questionable. He groaned and tried to get comfortable again. He just wanted to go back to sleep and whoever he was on was comfortable….WAIT A MINUTE!

His eyes popped open and saw Matsumoto smiling down at him. That meant he was in her lap! With a startled yelp he threw himself off of her and onto her bed. He groaned again, this time from the sudden movement making him dizzy.

"Taicho?" said Matsumoto.

He felt a blush beginning to heat up his cheeks. He had been in her room, sleeping in her lap, wearing his pajamas, so embarrassing. How had this awful mess even happened?

"Matsumoto," he managed, "What's going on?"

"You really don't remember taicho?" she asked.

What did he remember from last night? He remembered going to bed because he felt awful, but being so scared he had actually changed into his pajamas because they were comforting to him. And then the nightmare, the nightmare that had set him crying out for someone, for anyone. It wasn't very clear, but he thought he remembered being in someone's arms as they gently rocked the nightmares away.

His face turned even redder as he realized that must have been Matsumoto cradling him like an infant; and she had seen his pajamas. After that though the nightmares returned and his headache got worse. He remembered in his haze of pain and fear getting up and going to look for whoever had chased the nightmares away. Ending up in her room, then hurling in her bathroom and falling asleep in her arms. Plus he remembered wanting her to pick him up and beckoning like a two-year old for it. If this got out his reputation was ruined, but Matsumoto was such a gossip. He couldn't trust her not to blab out his embarrassment to whole of soul society.

He buried his head in his hands and groaned again. It was all so frustrating and his head was hurting even worse from all these thought. He felt a small tear leak out of his eye.

"Taicho," Matsumoto said putting a hand again to his forehead. She was getting worried because of his behavior.

He looked up at her, getting ready to threaten her never to breathe a word of this to anyone when his stomach heaved. He was hunched over gagging when he suddenly found himself in Matsumoto's arms being propelled speedily towards her bathroom. She set him down before the toilet right as he began. He felt her arm encircle his chest, steadying him and comforting him at the same time.

She set him on the floor again when he was done and went to get the washcloth. Hitsugaya felt tears beginning to course down his cheeks. Throwing up made the pain unbearable. His head hurt too much to even think. He just wanted someone to comfort him. Feeling absolutely defeated and miserable he lifted his arms up as Matsumoto came back and made a grabbing motion with his hands.

She walked over and gently lifted him up in her arms. She cradled him in one arm and pressed a wonderfully cold washcloth against his head. He sighed at the moment of bliss the coolness brought and then cuddled into her.

"Don't worry taicho," she whispered to him, "I sent for the 4th division, they'll make you better soon."

She felt him nod slightly and then he grew heavy. She smiled, he had fallen asleep.

_Matsumoto-_

She was surprised when she walked back and he had held his arms up for her to pick him up.

"He must really be feeling bad," she thought as she lifted him in her arms.

When he fell asleep, she went back and sat on her bed still cradling him in her arms. When she sat down it slightly shifted the little one in her arms. Both his hands shot out and fisted in the fabric of her nightgown. With nothing to do until the 4th division got there Matsumoto grabbed a book to read and sat back with her taicho cradled in one arm.

Barely half an hour later there was a knock at her door. Opening the door, she found both Hanataro and Rin waiting there. They both balked at the sight of Hitsugaya sleeping peacefully in her arms, his hands still gripping her nightgown.

Hanataro was the first to recover. "4th division member reporting as requested."

"You don't have to be formal Hanataro," Matsumoto said. "What about you," she said looking at Rin.

This made him instantly shy and blushing. "Well I heard that Toushiro, I mean Hitsugaya taicho was sick and I uh, uh," he managed to stutter.

"It's alright, you can come in," she said with a smile.

"He'll be happy to see his friends," she thought.

She went back and carefully laid Hitsugaya down on her bed. She had a little trouble untangling his hands from her nightgown. She looked over and saw Rin and Hanataro, both boys looking slightly embarrassed at the situation, seeing a vice captain in her nightgown. She laughed on the inside.

She leaned down and whispered onto Hitsugaya's ear, "Come on little one, wake up." He just moaned and tried to turn over.

"Come on, wake up, the fourth division is here," she said knowing what his reaction would be.

He sat up instantly almost knocking Matsumoto in the head. Seeing Hanataro and Rin a small blush crept across his cheeks.

"He's embarrassed," thought Matsumoto, "Probably best not to tell him I answered the door with him in my arms."

Taking initiative over the awkward situation, she began, "He's been running a fever since yesterday. He threw up twice, once last night and once this morning."

"Thank you Matsumoto-san, I'll take it from here," said Hanataro.

He instructed Hitsugaya to lie down again. Once Hitsugaya had complied, Hanataro placed his hands over him, a familiar green light emanating from them as he began his diagnosis.

Seeing that he had things under control Matsumoto made her escape to her bathroom. She threw her bathrobe on so the boys wouldn't be quite so embarrassed. Feeling that she was suitably attired she spied on the three to see what they would do when she wasn't around.

"What are you guys doing here?" Hitsugaya asked, his voice was weak.

"When I heard you were sick I asked the captain for the assignment," said Hanataro.

"I just kinda, tagged along," said Rin, "I hope don't mind."

"No, no it's fine," replied Hitsugaya, "I'm glad it's you guys and not some stranger."

"Yeah," they both agreed.

"So," Hitsugaya ventured cautiously, "Did you guys get any sleep?"

Matsumoto had to hold back a snicker as both boys visibly paled.

"Never again, never again," said Rin.

"Agreed," the other two said.

Hanataro lowered his hands. "Well it seems you just caught a nasty bug. It's been going around lately. I'll give some medication to make you more comfortable but it usually lasts a week."

Hanataro rummaged around in his pack. "Take this for the headache," he said holding up a pill, "and a capful of this to help you sleep. Now you'll get over it quicker if you rest, so no working ok."

"Ooh, that's going to be a chore in itself just keeping him away from his precious paperwork," thought Matsumoto.

Hitsugaya took the pill and liquid medication, with a bottle of water that Hanataro gave him.

"I guess we won't see you tonight," said Rin.

"Shh!" said Hitsugaya, "You never know when she'll be listening."

"Who, you're lieutenant?" asked Rin, "She seemed nice."

"Yes, but it's a secret," said Hitsugaya, "I don't want her to know."

"We understand," said Hanataro. He began to walk out. "Hope you feel better soon."

Matsumoto chose that time to make her appearance. "What's going on with him?" she asked.

"Just a bug, mam, I gave him some meds to keep him comfortable. He just needs to stay in bed till he's well."

"Don't worry, I'll make sure he does," she grinned evilly at Hitsugaya. He just scowled at her.

The two boys left leaving Matsumoto and her taicho alone again. She saw the medicine was already beginning to affect him as he was starting to doze off. Smiling she walked over and picked him up, cradling him to her chest.

"Matsumoto," he complained weakly.

"What taicho."

There was no answer. He was already asleep.


	6. Chapter 6

Shinigami Kids Society

Chapter 6: On the Same Day

Ukitake sighed in appreciation as he sipped at a particularly good cup of tea. He was sitting in fourth division captain Unohana's office. Being one of the oldest captains in Seireitei, he enjoyed the company of other captains who had been around as long as he had. Kyoraku was his usual companion and closest friend, but most of the time he was too drunk to hold a decent conversation. Ukitake found he enjoyed Unohana's quiet and understanding personality, you could talk to her about anything and she would understand. This had made her the unofficial psychiatrist of the soul reapers. From her own division's issues from constantly being bullied by the other squads to the 11th division members sent to her for mandatory anger management counseling, it seemed that she was always working. But she always found time to talk to a friend.

He was brought out of his reverie by the sound of the door opening. Looking up from the cup of tea he saw Unohana walk in.

"Sorry I'm late," she said in her quiet manner, "I was just debriefing Hanataro, it seems young Hitsugaya-taicho has come down with that nasty puking bug."

"Oh no, poor shiro-chan," said Ukitake, "Is somebody looking after him, the kid does not know how stop working on his own."

"Hanataro said that Matsumoto had him trapped in her room."

"That's a relief, Rangiku I know cares for her captain, she'll make him rest until he gets better."

"That will be a chore I'm sure," agreed Unohana, "Luckily Hanataro gave him a sleep aid. The more he rests the faster he'll get better."

Ukitake stared at his cup for a moment before asking, "How has Hanataro been by the way?"

Unohana looked at him strange, wondering why he would ask something like that.

"Actually I've been wondering that myself," she said finally, "He looks like he hasn't slept in a few nights and he's been more jumpy than usual. I thought those horrid 11th division brutes had jumped him again, but he refuses to talk about it. Do you know something?"

"Same things been happening with Kiyone," replied Ukitake, "and I know the cause."

"This should be interesting," Unohana said sitting up, she loved a good story.

"Please remember this is confidential."

Unohana laughed out loud, a rare occurrence for her. "I know all the dark, dirty secrets in Seireitei, don't worry Jushiro I think I can keep this one too."

Ukitake chuckled at his own stupidity. "Well that's a relief," he thought and began to tell his tale.

After he had finished, Unohana sat there for a moment before finally saying, "Hmm, that explains a lot."

"Really," said Ukitake.

"Well, it explains why Hanataro suddenly volunteered to go diagnose Hitsugaya and why Rin and Yarichu have been hanging around Hanataro all of a sudden."

"Yarichu's also been terrorizing my division as well," said Ukitake.

"We may have a problem though," said Unohana.

Ukitake looked up surprised. "What?" he asked.

"You said they had a sleepover and now Hitsugaya is sick. They all were exposed to him, so chances are they will be coming down with it soon."

"How soon?"

"Incubation can range from three days to a week," said Unohana.

"Poor kids," said Ukitake.

"When is their next meeting?"

"Tonight actually."

"I would like to come with you," said Unohana.

"You actually have time," said Ukitake disbelievingly.

"Actually I do, I'm shifting all my 11th division cases to Renji and Ikkaku as they are the shining success stories of our anger management program. Frees up my evenings at least."

"Well I'll drop by about three."

"See you then."

_Matsumoto-_

Matsumoto opened the door to her quarters and walked in; setting the numerous bags her arms had been loaded with on the floor just inside. She entered her bedroom and smiled when she saw her taicho still curled up and sleeping soundly where she had left him. She had let him sleep in her arms for a while before placing him on her bed. She walked over and placed her hand on his forehead. Still warm, but not as hot as it had been; the medicine was keeping the fever down. Smiling she brushed the hair away from his face before walking back out to where she had left her bags.

While she had been holding Hitsugaya she had realized that looking after a kid, especially a sick kid required a lot stuff she didn't have. Well, it was a good excuse to go shopping, something that Matsumoto could never pass up. Humming happily to herself she began unpacking her newly acquired goodies.

Looking at the clock she realized it was already past four, which meant Hitsugaya had been sleeping for five hours already.

"Time to wake him up," she thought to herself.

She walked into her bedroom and lifted him by his armpits, setting his head on her shoulder. His arms instinctively encircled her neck.

"Come on, wake up," she said patting his back earning a tired moan from the boy.

"Where am I?" Hitsugaya asked sleepily.

"With me taicho," she replied cheerfully.

"I feel awful," he said.

He yawned and buried his head in her shoulder.

"No you don't," she said quickly shaking his head off her shoulder, making him moan again, "It's time to wake up."

"Why," he complained.

He did look tired. His head kept bobbing like he couldn't hold it up and his eyes were barely open. Matsumoto began to walk towards her bathroom.

"You'll feel better once you've cleaned up," said Matsumoto.

The bathroom was nice and warm due to the heater Matsumoto had running in there. She walked in and carefully set her taicho down on a rug in front of her tub. He looked up at her with sleepy eyes.

She gave him his water bottle. "Come on, flush that sleepy drug out of your system."

He took several long swallows before handing it back to her. Suddenly his eyes widened alarmingly and he looked quickly towards the toilet.

"Are going to throw up again?" asked Matsumoto.

He blushed deeply and shook his head. He looked at the toilet worriedly and back at her.

"Oh," she said as she realized the unspoken message. She quickly left and shut the door allowing him privacy to do his business.

"Taicho," she called through the door, "I left you a new set of clothes on the counter next to the sink, so go ahead and take a shower. There's also a new toothbrush on them."

She heard something unintelligible mumbled at her. Feeling that he got the message she left to go finish the rest of her work.

_Hitsugaya-_

The tiredness was retreating, but his head was still foggy making thinking nearly impossible. He stumbled over to the tub and turned the shower on, letting the water warm up. The bathroom was deliciously warm to his body keeping the agonizing chills away. Sighing in comfort he stripped out of his pajamas and tossed them to the side.

He stepped into the shower and let the warm water wash over him. He just stood there for a minute enjoying the warmth. Looking around he was shocked by the number of shampoos and body washes that Matsumoto had spread over the shelves on the walls. He felt overwhelmed till he noticed that the lowest shelf contained only a bottle of shampoo conditioner and a new bar of soap. He realized it was meant for him and that the shampoo and conditioner was specially made for people with white hair.

He smiled a little at her thoughtfulness and proceeded to wash himself. Finishing he shut off the water and grabbed a towel. He groaned when he saw his clothes. Matsumoto had gotten him another pair of pajamas, this time dark blue decorated with silver snowflakes. Even the underwear was blue.

"She's enjoying this way too much," he thought angrily.

Still he put them on and found them surprisingly comfy, they were thick and fleecy soft. Looking at himself in the mirror, he grudgingly decided that he liked them. Sighing he looked around and found the new toothbrush, still in its packaging. It was light green and decorated with little watermelon slices.

"Is there no end to this," Hitsugaya thought, burying his head in his hands.

After brushing his teeth, he braced himself and walked out the door.

Matsumoto looked up from her book.

"Feeling better?" she asked.

"A little," he said. He suddenly felt a little tired again after coming out of the warm bathroom.

"Well, since you need to let your body rest, I got the 12th to loan me a TV set," she said gesturing towards a new TV set up on an entertainment center in front of the bed.

"When did that get here?" Hitsugaya asked.

"They just delivered it; you were in the shower for forty-five minutes. I was starting to think you drowned."

Hitsugaya blushed and looked at the clock realizing she was right.

Seeing him standing there uncertainly, Matsumoto stood up and walked over. She placed her hand on his forehead. Only a low-grade fever, the pill was still doing its work.

"Come on taicho," she said. When still didn't move she bent down and lifted him in her arms again.

"Matsumoto," he whined.

"Taicho, you looked like you were lost, now come on I picked out some nice movies just for you."

His face became deadly serious. "They're not scary, right," he said in a small voice.

"He looks so pitiful," thought Matsumoto.

"Don't worry taicho; they're nice, clean, fun movies."

She laid him on the bed and propped him up on some pillows. After making sure he was tucked in she went and turned on the TV.

"This one's called Finding Nemo," Matsumoto said handing him the reemote, "I've got to go check on what the 3rd seats been up to, so enjoy the movie till I come back."

He nodded at her. Smiling Matsumoto turned around and left the room.

"He looks so cute in those pajamas," she thought to herself.

**Alright, reviews please.**


	7. Chapter 7

Shinigami Kids Society

Chapter 7: Alone

The fourth division was busy when Ukitake arrived, much to busy for this time of day. Ukitake made his way through the halls dodging droves of 4th division members who seemed to be in a rush to be everywhere. He found Unohana in her office signing some papers.

"Ready to go," she said with her trademark smile, looking up from her work.

"What's going on here?" asked Ukitake.

"There's been an increase in the number of puking bug cases," seeing the worried look in Ukitake's eye she added, "Not a large increase; I am just making preparations in case things get worse."

"Are you sure it's ok to leave?"

"Isane can manage things here for awhile," she said confidently.

"Alright then," Ukitake said motioning for the door.

They both left dodging the medical shinigami, who seemed lost in their own worlds as they worked. Once they were outside they shunpoed quickly to their destination.

_Hitsugaya-_

He had been watching the movie for an hour when his head began to hurt again. He paused the movie, wincing at the sudden pain behind his eyes. He whimpered as the pain filled chills returned. He just wanted somebody to make the pain go away.

"Where is she?" he wondered.

There was no use denying it, he wanted Matsumoto. He looked at the clock. She had been gone far too long he thought. He rolled over on his side and closed his eyes as the pain in his head increased. Why had she left him alone?

He hated feeling this way, feeling helpless. He hated this sickness for making him so weak. Most of all, he hated being alone. Why was Matsumoto being so nice he wondered? It was annoying that she was treating him like a kid, but secretly part of him enjoyed the attention. Was it just because he was sick? Would she stop when he got better; part of him didn't want her to. Would she leave him alone again.

A few tears escaped his eyes. Why was he thinking this way he wondered, acting so weak? He was a captain, he should be stronger. People expected so much of him; he had to be strong to live up to people's expectations. More tears ran down his face. It was so hard sometimes, always being watched and evaluated. It made him feel as if he wasn't a person, just some prized project that gave good results. It made him feel so alone. Sometimes he missed his carefree days in Rukongai with his grandmother and Hinamori. Sometimes he wished he could go back.

"Stop this," he scolded himself, "Get a grip."

But the more he told himself that the more miserable he felt. The sound of footsteps and the door opening broke him out of his trance though. He opened his eyes to see Matsumoto come walking into the room. She stopped and looked at him worriedly.

"Great, now she knows I've been crying like a baby," he thought angrily to himself.

As she walked towards him he quickly wiped the tears off with his fist. He crossed his arms and his face was set in his familiar scowl. She responded by sitting down on the bed and gently pulling him onto her lap. He squeaked in surprise. She wrapped her arms around him in a warm comforting hug and laid his head on her chest. He surprised himself by not fighting back.

"You know," she said, gently stoking his hair, "It's ok to cry."

He shook his head, but didn't say anything. Matsumoto sighed, she'd expected this response. Hitsugaya was the type who kept everything bottled in; he probably thought that crying was a sign of weakness. Still he hadn't moved from her lap, so that was some progress; though it was probably just because he was sick and tired.

"Your fevers back, do you want some medicine?" she asked.

She felt him nod against her chest. She lightly squeezed him once and set him back on the bed. She went and grabbed his medicine from her medicine cabinet in the bathroom

"You can finish the movie tomorrow as this stuff is probably going to put you to sleep."

He nodded again and she gave him the meds. He yawned after taking them and was about to lay down again when Matsumoto picked him up again and cradled him in one arm.

"Matsumoto, what are you doing?" he asked as wriggled trying to escape.

She placed other hand on his chest holding him down. She smiled as his hands grabbed her arm, trying in vain to fight it off.

"Helping you get to sleep taicho," she said like it was a normal thing.

"I'm not a baby," he said sleepily, he had stopped trying to push her hand off, but was still holding on to it.

"I know that taicho."

"And my own bed is fine," he said.

She cocked her head at the boy in her arms. "What was that taicho? Do you really want to sleep alone?"

His eyes widened as he thought about being in a dark room alone and his grip on her arm tightened.

She sat down on the bed. "It looked like you were having a bad nightmare last night."

He didn't answer. The scowl had dropped from his face and he just kept staring at Matsumoto with those wide eyes of fear. "So adorable," Matsumoto thought.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked.

That broke him out of his thoughts. "No," he said and quickly looked away.

She pressed on, "Why not?"

He looked at her again a slight blush on his cheeks. "It's embarrassing."

"I won't laugh, I promise," she said, hoping to get him to open up a little.

He bit his lip, trying to decide whether or not he could trust her.

"I won't hurt you," she said softly and gave him a light squeeze in her arms.

"I…I…," Hitsugaya's brow struggled as he made himself speak, "I watched something scary, ok."

Matsumoto took her hand off his chest and began to stroke his hair. "It gave you the nightmare?"

He nodded. "It was horrible," his voice was trembling, his breathing quickened, "I was falling forever in the dark and all alone." He reached out and grabbed Matsumoto's robes and buried his face in her shoulder.

"It's ok," she said, gently rocking him, "I'm with you now, you're not alone."

She felt his breathing even out and his grip on her robes eased.

"Matsumoto," he said his voice laden with sleep, "Don't you ever tell anyone about this ok."

She smiled to herself. "Of course not taicho," she said as he fell asleep.

_Ukitake and Unohana-_

The kids arrived at their usaual times except for Hanataro who was ten minutes late. The table looked a little empty without a certain white-haired captain there.

"I heard that Hitsugaya's sick," said Kiyone.

Hanataro looked up at her with tired eyes. "He has the puking bug, its going around everywhere now."

He sighed and rested his head on his arm.

"Are you ok?" Rin asked.

"I'm just tired," said Hanataro.

The other kids quickly scooted away from him.

"What?" he asked, looking surprised.

"You don't look so well," said Yarichu, "And you were around Whitey-chan."

"So was Rin," he said.

The others quickly scooted away from him as well.

"Look," Hanataro said, "We all were around him at the sleepover and I'm not sick; I'm tired because I haven't slept since that movie."

"Are we going to get sick?" asked Yarichu.

"I don't know we all were exposed to him, but it's also going around all of Seireitei right now; we could catch it anywhere."

"Great," said Yarichu with a pout on her face.

Kiyone looked concerned. "I hope my taicho doesn't catch it, he's already sick enough as it is."

"So are we going to do anything tonight?" asked Rin.

"It's no fun without Whitey-chan," said Yarichu.

"I'm too tired," said Hanataro, resting his head on the table, "and I even used my "work like a dog" pill too."

"We could go see Hitsugaya," said Kiyone.

"He's probably asleep," said Rin, "He didn't look to good when we saw him."

"Maybe some other time," she replied.

Yarichu was rubbing her eyes. "I'm tired to, let's call it a night."

They all said goodbye and quickly departed leaving Ukitake and Unohana up alone on the second floor.

"Hm, that was their shortest meeting ever," Ukitake said.

"I think I need to go check on Hanataro," said Unohana, "He really doesn't look well."

"I hope they don't get it," said Ukitake.

"If things keep going the way they are going we may have some big problems on are hands with this sickness," said Unohana.

"Just remember, if you need help my division is always willing," said Ukitake.

Unohana smiled and said thanks at the offer before heading out. Ukitake sat alone there, for a long time after, thinking off many things. He smiled at the memory of Kiyone's concern for hiss health, but was also troubled at the worry he caused the girl. So many worried about him. People like Kyoraku, Kiyone and Sentaro, even Unohana worried about him. He himself worried about many people, mainly the younger shinigami.

"Why do people worry?" he wondered.

**Ok another chapter done. Reviews please. When writing sad emotion I find that I listen to slightly depressing music as I write (mostly from Yuki Kajiura); so did you like it or not?**


	8. Chapter 8

Shinigami Kids Society

Chapter 8: Dark Water

Hitsugaya groaned as he awoke from his drugged sleep, bringing is hands up too rub his eyes.

"Where am I," he wondered as he opened his eyes.

This certainly wasn't his bed, it was much too big. His bed was a twin size which was more than enough space for his little frame. The bed he was on looked like it was king size and seemed to swallow him up. It made him feel very small, which he hated feeling. But it was comfortable; he was almost tempted to go to sleep again.

He heard the door open and sat up suddenly. He immediately regretted the action as his vision suddenly swam around. He quickly lay back down with his hands covering his eyes, waiting for the dizzy spell to pass.

"Taicho," he heard Matsumoto's worried voice, "Are you ok."

Matsumoto? What was she doing here he wondered. Oh right, he was sick with that stupid bug and he was in her room because he had been too afraid to sleep by himself. He mentally kicked himself over the last part.

He slowly sat up again and opened his eyes to see Matsumoto hovering over him. She placed her hand on his forehead.

"I'm fine," he told her not mentioning that her cool hand felt wonderful on his fevered brow.

"Hmm," she said as she pulled her hand back, "How do you feel?"

He mentally checked himself over. His head was still hurting and he felt faint from the dizzy spell, but at least his stomach didn't queasy at all which was a definite improvement.

"Better," he mumbled at her.

She smiled a bit and brushed some errant hairs away from his face.

"Your fevers back so I'll get you your pill, but you didn't eat anything yesterday. Do you think you could keep a little bit down?"

He was still a little hesitant about testing his wayward stomach, but he nodded anyway. Matsumoto nodded back and walked out of the room. Hitsugaya turned around and propped some pillows up behind himself. He leaned back on them with a sigh. He wasn't used to this. He wasn't used to resting all day. He wasn't used to Matsumoto's constant attention. It irked the captain part him that said he should be working. Bur whatever annoyance he felt vanished when saw Matsumoto walk back in carrying a tray of watermelon slices.

Matsumoto had to stifle a giggle when she walked back in; her taicho's reaction was so amusing. His eyes opened wide at the sight of the food and a smile of pure joy appeared on his face. She had never seen him so happy.

"Think you could keep some of this down?" she asked playfully.

He enthusiastically nodded his head up and down, the smile never leaving his face. With a smile she gave him the tray and watched him begin to eat. Making him happy always made her happy as well. Seeing him there dressed in pajamas, his hair all fuzzy and down from sleep he looked like he did when she found him rukongai.

"He must gel that hair up," she thought, "Probably to make himself look taller."

Hitsugaya was happily chomping down on the watermelon; his eyes were closed, savoring the taste. Matsumoto realized he probably wasn't the cleanest eater as the juice was already running down his chin. She took a napkin and wiped off his chin before handing him a few more.

Seeing the look of annoyance he gave her she said, "Don't ruin your clothes or my bed ok."

He looked at the napkins and nodded again with a mouth full of watermelon.

Matsumoto turned on the TV and placed the remote on the bed near Hitsugaya.

"I have to go out now, so you think you can be good and stay here by yourself?"

That earned a frown from Hitsugaya. "I'm not a kid for crying out loud," he thought.

Matsumoto laughed at his expression. "I'm just playing with you taicho."

"Hmm," he grumbled as he finished his bite of watermelon. "Where are you going?" he added.

"I have to go to the 4th several division members are sick in their infirmary, then I need to go see what our third seat has been up to."

"Sick?'

"Same bug you have taicho, it's very contagious apparently,"

"Why don't you have it then?" he said.

"Who knows," she said with a wave of her hand.

"Now there's a stack of movies in the entertainment center," she continued, "Nothing scary, so you have plenty to do till I get back."

Hitsugaya nodded as he took another bite of watermelon.

"Get better taicho," she said as she walked out the door.

Hitsugaya hit play on the remote and watched the rest of Finding Nemo while happily finishing his watermelon.

The movie finished a little while later. Hitsugaya set his tray, now full of watermelon rinds and seeds, to the side.

"Funny movie," he thought, "Much better than that stupid grudge movie."

He was feeling better now with some food in his stomach but now he was getting bored. The captain part of him wanted to get back to work now that he was feeling a little better; but he didn't want to disappoint Matsumoto. Wait! Where had that thought come from? He was a captain and she was his vice-captain. Why would he worry about disappointing her? Still some part of him was worried that she'd be mad if he disobeyed. Ugh enough of these thoughts, he needed to get out of here.

He climbed out of the bed. As he stood up he had to grab the side as he suddenly felt woozy from the motion. He found some slippers with the same designs as his pajamas by the door in Matsumoto's front room obliviously meant for him.

As he quietly snuck through the halls of the 10th his mind kept making up excuses for why he was doing this.

"I'm not going to really do anything, I'm just going to see what's going on," he thought to himself, "A captain should be informed right."

The other part mind just thought, "I hope she doesn't kill me."

He sighed in relief as he reached the door to his office unseen. He opened the door and walked straight into an unseen kido barrier.

"Ow!" he cried as he landed on his butt, holding his now throbbing nose.

What was a barrier doing on the door to his office? He now saw a note on the wall, conveniently at eyelevel from his position on the floor.

_Go back to bed Taicho_

_-Matsumoto_

_P.S. If you're good I'll bring back some watermelon._

"Matsumoto," he grumbled, carefully rubbing his poor nose.

He examined the barrier. It was similar to the Mirror Door technique he himself used, which meant the only way to get through was to shatter it.

As he concentrated on his reiatsu, doubt crept into his mind.

"Maybe this isn't such a good idea."

"Shut up," he told himself.

Gathering all the spiritual power he could muster he hurled it at the barrier. He felt it shatter into thousand pieces. Smiling to himself Hitsugaya stepped into the office.

He made it three steps before the vertigo hit him. He found himself on his hands and knees as the room spun around him. The pounding in his head returned. Uncontrollable nausea hit him and he gave back his watermelon all over the floor.

Amidst the pain some part of him thought, "What a waste of good watermelon."

Tears began to course down his cheeks, the pain too much. An agonizing chill made him roll on his side with a sob. He curled up into a fetal position sobbing out loud. This was bad, very bad. He suddenly threw up again. The room was still spinning. He squeezed his eyes shut begging it to stop. As he lay there crying thoughts came unbidden to his head.

Where was Matsumoto he wondered? He needed her now. How would she know where to find him?

He heard the sound of someone running down the hallways. He heard a gasp and opened his eyes. Matsumoto was standing in the doorway looking at him. A fresh cry came from his mouth and he lifted his arms towards her. He didn't care what she thought of him, he just wanted her to make the pain go away. He felt himself being gently lifted up.

"Oh little one," he heard her say softly, "What have you done to yourself."

_Matsumoto-_

Matsumoto was walking back from the 4th when she felt her barrier break. Dread filled her and suddenly she found herself shupoeing as fast as she could towards 10th division.

"I never thought he would actually be stupid enough to force his way in," she thought, "He could of just climbed in through a window if he wanted in so badly."

Her inner self reminded her that the taicho wasn't exactly thinking straight due to the fever.

"Oh this is bad, very bad," she thought.

When a shinigami is sick the majority of their spiritual power is used to fight off the illness and stop its advance in the body.

"If he broke the barrier, then he's made himself worse, a lot worse."

She heard the cries as she thundered down the hallways of the 10th. She couldn't suppress a gasp at the sight in the office. Her taicho lay there, surrounded by his vomit, pale as ghost and trembling. He cried as he saw her and lifted his arms up for her.

"Oh little one, what have you done to yourself," she said as gently picked him off the floor and cradled him to her chest. He weakly grabbed the folds of her robe and buried his face there, still sobbing his eyes out.

"He's burning up!" she thought. She felt the heat radiating from his body through her robes.

She sat down on the couch in the office, her usual napping place, and tried to comfort the crying boy in her arms.

"There, there little one, it's all right now I've got you now; it will be ok," she said to him while she stoked his hair.

But nothing seemed to work, as his cries continued on. Matsumoto felt the dread return to the pit of her stomach and thought that something was really wrong.

_Hitsugaya's mind-_

"Something's wrong," Hitsugaya thought as well.

He knew he was crying, but could do nothing to stop it. He felt disconnected from his body, like he was floating in the dark waters of his mind. He struggled to break out the feeling, but it was futile as waves of water pulled him farther away from reality. He suddenly felt very tired. He started to sink.

"Matsumoto," he cried out in his head, but his body didn't respond.

Despair clutched at him, the tiredness overwhelmed him. He closed his eyes and sank beneath the waves.

**Yay! another chapter done, please rate and review. The more reviews I get the faster I write!**


	9. Chapter 9

Shinigami Kids Society

Chapter 9: Epidemic

Matsumoto sat on the couch, cradling the crying boy. A tinkling sound interrupted her thoughts. A hell butterfly made its way into the office and landed on her outstretched finger.

"What now?" she thought.

Her annoyed face turned to shock as she heard the message.

"What, a joint captain and vice captain emergency meeting in an hour!" she looked down at the boy in her arms, "I don't have time for that, he needs to see a doctor and I can't leave him alone like this."

She immediately sent the butterfly off to the 4th division requesting Hanataro to come check over Hitsugaya, who was worse than ever, and watch after him during the meeting.

"Come on, little one," she said as she stood up and began to walk back to her quarters. The boy in her arms was still crying but no longer in hysterics. The few people they passed in the halls stared in shock at the sight off their taicho in his pajamas being carried by Matsumoto. Matsumoto paid them no attention and hurried on her way.

Reaching her quarters she went straight to the bathroom. Hitsugaya was covered in sweat and vomit, in a word slimy; not to mention the smell. She couldn't leave in this state. She set him on the rug in front of her bathtub. He looked up at her with big teary eyes wondering why the warm, comforting arms were no longer cuddling him.

Matsumoto turned the water on and put the plug in the drain. She stood up to leave when she heard the sobbing starting up again. She looked back and saw big hot tears running freely down his face and his hands up reaching for her as he sobbed. Matsumoto frowned; her taicho was always calm, serious, an icy personality to the core, definitely not a crybaby. These emotional outbursts were not like him at all.

"Taicho," she said hesitantly.

When this produced no effect, if anything his sobbing became more desperate, she sat down on the rug next to him. Grasping the reaching hands she gently pulled her slimy taicho onto her lap. The effect was almost immediate as his crying eased. He laid his fevered brow against her chest and weakly cuddled against her.

"That's right, it's ok little one," she said softly to him as she lightly squeezed him in her arms.

The crying stopped and to her horror she felt the little bundle go limp in her arms.

"Wait, you can't go to sleep now," she said lightly shaking him, trying to wake him, "Come on taicho I've got to go, please wake up."

She was getting no response and she didn't have a lot of time as she also had to change, her robes had been slimed from holding Hitsugaya.

"Please don't hate me taicho," she told boy in her lap as she pulled off his pajama top and tossed it towards her clothes hamper.

She quickly finished undressing him and carefully placed the limp boy in the bath. He opened his eyes after the transition to the water and looked around a bit whimpering for her.

"I'm right here little one," she called softly as she ran her hand through his hair.

He sighed and leaned his head against her hand. Closing his eyes he went back to sleep. She laid his head on the side of the tub and got busy cleaning him up. She grabbed a cup she kept in the bath and used it to wet his hair. After lathering it with his shampoo she quickly rinsed it. Taking a soapy washcloth, she wiped all the sweat and vomit of his body. When he was sufficiently clean by her standards she unplugged the drain. Grabbing a towel she used it to pick up her now clean, wet and definitely better smelling taicho and wrapped it around him. She walked back to her bedroom and set him on her bed. She grabbed a set of forest green pajamas and underwear and set those next to him. She used the towel to dry him off thoroughly and dressed him in the new pajamas.

Leaving him laying there on the bed, she grabbed a change of robes for herself and went to the bathroom to clean up. She barely in there for five minutes when she heard the whimpers coming from the bedroom. She finished as fast as she could and went back out to the bedroom, but by then the whimpers had turned into full fledged crying all over again.

"Come on taicho, don't be like that," she told the crying boy, who was curled up on the bed. He looked up at her with big teary eyes and held out his arms.

Sighing, she reached over and lifted him up by his armpits. She set his head on her shoulder and his arms automatically wrapped around her neck. She rubbed his back trying to calm him.

"Why are you crying?" she asked him. Receiving no answer she continued, "You've got to settle down, I have to leave and…"

"No!" he cried as he hugged her neck her neck even tighter and began to sob into her shoulder.

This worried Matsumoto even more. She knew Hitsugaya always lowered his voice on purpose to make him sound older. But now he sounded just like his gigai, a little boy crying on her shoulder.

"What's wrong with you buddy?" she whispered quietly to herself as she continued to rub his back.

After a minute he fell asleep again, the arms tangled around her neck went limp and let go. She still held him though, for some strange reason she didn't want to let him go.

A knock at the door brought her back to reality.

"Finally," she thought as she opened the door.

Standing out in the hall was none other than Captain Unohana. She was carrying a boy the same way Matsumoto was holding Hitsugaya.

"Matsumoto," Unohana said, "I know you asked for Hanataro, but as you can see he's a little incapacitated.

Matsumoto recognized the boy she was holding was Hanataro in his pajamas.

"Oh no, he got sick as well?"

Unohana nodded, "Yes, he kept working right until he started vomiting and even after that he still wanted to help out. I finally gave him enough medication to knock him out."

Unohana looked at Hitsugaya in Matsumoto's arms, "I know you wanted Hanataro to watch him, but could I leave Hanataro here with him, the 4th is incredibly busy right now and there's no way he could rest properly there."

"We still need someone to watch them," said Matsumoto.

"That's why I'm here," said a voice behind Unohana.

Rin stepped out from behind Unohana. He was carrying two bags.

"I'll watch them for you Matsumoto, I already my bag and Hanataro's."

"Thank you Rin," said Matsumoto with a smile to the kind boy.

"He was kind enough to volunteer," said Unohana giving a knowing wink to Matsumoto.

"I knew Ukitake would tell her," thought Matsumoto.

"Just bring him in here," said Matsumoto, leading them to her bedroom.

She pulled back the covers of her bed and set Hitsugaya down, careful not to disturb him for fear of another crying episode. Unohana set Hanataro beside him and smiled as Hitsugaya snuggled closer to the source of warmth next to him. Matsumoto pulled up the blankets and tucked them in. Unohana reached over and felt Hitsugaya's forehead.

Frowning she said, "You said he used up his reiatsu and made himself worse?"

"Yes, and his behavior's been worrying me, he's been crying since it happened, which isn't like him at all."

"I'll have to look at him later; we have to go to the meeting now."

As they headed to the door Matsumoto turned to Rin with a face of concern and said, "Please take good care of them."

"Yes mam, you can count on me," he replied.

She smiled and added, "And look after yourself too."

Both female shinigami turned and shunpoed away. Rin sat on the foot of the bed and looked at the sleeping forms of his friends. He winced at the sudden pain behind his eyes and brought his hands up to rub his temples.

"Why is my head hurting so bad?" he wondered.

They were the last to arrive at the first division, except the 13th captain and liutenent. They quickly filed in to their respective spots as the meeting started.

"Where is the tenth division captain?" asked the general-commander.

"He's sick sir and in no condition to attend the meeting," answered Matsumoto.

"Very well, where's the eleventh division lieutenant," he asked Zaraki.

Matsumoto noticed the lack of the pink haired girl sitting on his shoulder.

"The kid is upchucking her candy all over the 11th," stated Zaraki.

Everyone cringed at the mental picture.

"I see," said the old man, "What about…"

The doors opened as Ukitake walked in.

"I'm sorry for being late but Kiyone collapsed on the way here; I had Sentaro take her back."

"It's worse than we thought," said the general-commander.

"Everyone looked at him quizzically.

"Why don't you explain the situation, Captain Unohana," he said.

All eyes turned to the 4th division captain.

Unohana cleared her throat and began, "As you all know the puking bug has been hitting us hard for the last couple of weeks, the problem is the rate of new cases keeps increasing and the old cases aren't getting better. We are reaching epidemic levels in the Court of Pure Souls."

"There have been no cases in Rukongai as far as we know," she answered.

"I thought it was contagious," scoffed Captain Kurotsuchi.

"We still don't know how the disease is transmitted," she shot back.

"Is it dangerous?" asked Ukitake.

"No one is in danger of dying yet, the hardest hit seem to be our young ones and those with relatively low spirit power."

Seeing all their troubled faces the general spoke up, "We need to work together to beat this outbreak, As this is a medical emergency Captain Unohana is in charge; I expect all squads to follow her."

They looked to Unohana for guidance. "I will send each squad it's duties as soon as possible," she told them.

Looking to the commander she said, "I would like to gather our young ones to one place away from the main population so they can rest and be cared for properly."

"You're in charge now, Captain Unohana," he replied.

"We'll be using the Lieutenant Matsumoto's quarters then," she said.

"Dimissed!" said the general and the meeting drew to a close.

**Hi all! Well sorry about not updating for a bit, college started up again and really swamped me with homework. I'll try to keep the chapters coming once a week, but some of my professors are cruel when it comes to workloads so we will see what happens. Anyway please rate and review. The first thing I check each morning is my email to see if anyone reviewed and/or made it one of their favorite stories. **


	10. Chapter 10

Shinigami Kids Society

Chapter 10: New Duties

Unohana quickly pulled Matsumoto to the side after the meeting.

"Sorry for volunteering your quarters without asking you." She said in her quiet way.

"It's fine," said Matsumoto, "This way I can look after taicho."

"As I am now in command of the 13 squads," said Unohana in a stronger voice, "Your duties are to look after him and anyone else I send there, ok?"

"Thank you," Matsumoto said. Unohana really was the kindest captain of all the squads.

"Its already afternoon and I have much work to do so I can't come check up on him now," Unohana said, seeing Matsumoto's worried look she hastily added, "but I'll come by as soon as I can in the morning."

"Ok, but I'm really worried about him."

"You need to get back I'll be sending a few others to your quarters tonight, do you have enough room?"

"Yes, my bed is a king and I have a sofa and loveseat in my living room, plus I could move Hitsugaya's bed in there or use his quarters if I have to."

Matsumoto turned to leave when Unohana called out, "One last question, when was the last time Hitsugaya kept any food down?"

"He threw up the watermelon I gave him all over the office," she grimaced at the memory, "so it's been about two days I think."

Unohana frowned, "That's not good, children especially need food and vitamins, we'll have to do something about that tomorrow."

"Kay," Matsumoto said as she shunpoed off.

When she arrived at her quarters she went to immediately check on Hitsugaya. He was still snuggled up next to Hanataro, who hadn't moved once in his heavy drugged sleep. Satisfied that they both were fine she looked around. Wasn't she missing somebody?

"Rin?" she called.

A moan came from the bathroom. The door was open so she walked right in. She found a pale and sweaty Rin desperately clutching the toilet seat as he knelt in front of it.

"Oh gods just let me die," he said in a pained voice before proceeding to violently void his stomach.

"Not you too," she groaned.

She grabbed a washcloth and wet it with cold water. Rin was panting heavily, staring down into the toilet. She knelt down next to him.

"Are you finished?" she asked softly.

Rin turned to answer her, but quickly turned back and threw up again.

"Ughh," he groaned as he came up again.

He looked truly miserable just kneeling there, panting waiting for it to happen all over again. Matsumoto took the cool washcloth and wiped his sweaty forehead off.

His panting eased a little. He turned to her and said in a tired voice, "I think I'm done now."

"How's your head?" She put her hand to his forehead. He was burning up like the others.

"Horrible," he said bringing a hand to his temple.

She nodded in sympathy for him.

"Are your pajamas in your bag?" she asked.

He nodded.

"Unohana-taicho is sending all the sick kids here, so take a shower and get cleaned up, I'll give you some medicine after, ok."

He nodded again. Matsumoto shrugged then walked out. Rin apparently wasn't very talkative right now, though she doubted she would be if she had just thrown up twice.

"Poor kid," she thought.

Matsumoto brought his bag into the bathroom and left him to do his business. She had just brought out some extra blankets from a closet when she heard a knock on the door. She was surprised to find Renji at the door carrying a boy who was weakly struggling against his grip.

"Renji-san, put me down, I can walk by myself," the boy's voice was slurred he sounded half asleep.

"Quiet, you nearly killed yourself on the way here tripping over air; stop fighting the medicine and go to sleep already," Renji answered the boy.

"But I'm fine, really Renji-san I'm alright," he complained.

"Right, your fine, that's why you vomited all over the floor in front of me and Kuchiki taicho."

Looking at Matsumoto he held out the boy to her said, "Matsumoto they told me to bring him here."

"And who is this," Matsumoto said as she took the boy from Renji's arms.

"Rikichi," Renji answered.

She got a good look at the boy's face. Seeing the unique hair doodad and the Renji-like tattoo above his left eye she exclaimed, "Oh right he's your stalker."

The boy in her arms stopped struggling and his face went bright red. Seeing his reaction Renji burst out laughing.

"You get embarrassed about it now?" Renji said between laughs.

Rikichi's turned even redder and he hid his face in Matsumoto's shoulder. This just made Renji laugh even harder at the boy's antics.

Wiping a few tears from his eyes, Renji cleared his throat and said, "I have to report back now; see you later Matsumoto, get better soon Rikichi."

Renji dropped a bag of what she assumed were Rikichi's things inside the door and left. Once the door was closed Matsumoto tapped the boy on the head.

"You can come out now he's gone."

Rikichi looked up around satisfied that Renji was gone he sighed.

"You don't have to carry me, like I said, I'm fine."

"What, are you embarrassed?" she asked him.

He nodded.

She reached up and felt his forehead, it was warm, but not too hot. The kid looked like he was drugged though. She walked over and sat on her couch with him in her lap.

"When was the last time you had some medicine?"

"I took some about an hour ago; I had just fallen asleep when Renji woke me up and said we had to go," Rikichi said, accepting the fact that she wasn't going to put him down. At least Renji wasn't carrying him anymore, that was just too embarrassing.

"Are you nauseous right now, Renji said you've been throwing up."

Rikichi blushed again, "It was awful, I had finally figured out how to catch that stupid hell butterfly when Renji and the taicho walked in. For the first time I didn't look like a complete idiot in front of him and then I vomited all over the floor."

He paused, looking sad. "This has been the worst two days ever, first I embarrassed myself in front of my captain and Renji and then Renji has to carry me here."

Matsumoto poked him in the side to break him out of his sad spell.

"It's ok you know, everybody is getting sick right now and I'm sure embarrassing things are happening to them too; heck even my captain, Hitsugaya, threw up all over his office."

"Hitsugaya-taicho is sick too?" he asked.

"He's sleeping right in there," she pointed to her bedroom door.

Rikichi suddenly looked troubled, like he was afraid of something now.

"What is it?" Matsumoto asked him, wondering about the sudden change.

"I heard he was scary, that he'd freeze you into a solid ice block for the littlest things."

It was Matsumoto's turn to laugh. Rikichi looked worriedly wondering if he had said something stupid again.

"Don't worry," she said finally when she had gotten a hold of herself again, "He's in no condition to do that right now and he's not that bad once you get to know him, just a little on the grumpy side."

"Really?"

"Promise," she said.

There was a knock on the door again. Without waiting for her to even answer it the door was flung open and Kiyone rushed into the room. She was a sickly shade of green with her hand over mouth. She looked at Matsumoto with a sense of urgency. Matsumto pointed to her bedroom door, where the bathroom was. Kiyone ran as fast as she could. A few seconds later they heard the all too familiar sounds off vomiting.

"I hope Rin was out," she thought.

Matsumoto felt Rikichi shudder at the sounds.

"Don't you start know," she told him.

"I don't feel so good anymore," he said. He was panting heavily now.

"Here," she said as she guided his head back down to her shoulder, "Just close your eyes and breathe, let it past."

In the other room they heard Rin's indignant voice, "Jeez Kiyone, warn me next time."

"Ugh, sorry I didn't have time to announce my presence, but I was kinda in a hurry!"

"At least I was dressed, a few mnutes earlier and- move, move Move!"

Matsumto heard the sound of Rin vomiting again and felt the boy in her lap shudder again.

"Man, the boys are really having a tough time aren't they," she thought.

She heard footsteps coming down the hall and Ukitake stepped through the already open door.

"Did Kiyone make it?" he asked worriedly.

"She and Rin are seeing who can upchuck the most right now."

Ukitake made a face at her crude humor. He walked in and set Kiyone's bag down next to Rikichi's.

"Who's that," he asked, looking at the boy in her lap.

"Rikichi," she answered.

"Ah, Renji's stalker."

The said stalker on Matsumto's lap gave a strangled hiccup and tried to bury his head further into Matsumoto's shoulder.

"Be nice, he's embarrassed that everyone calls him that," Matsumoto told Ukitake.

Ukitake opened his mouth to answer when they both heard grunt. Turning they both saw the massive figure of Zaraki Kenpachi standing in the doorway.

"This is where the kid's supposed to go right," he said to them.

Yachiru was sitting on Zaraki's shoulder, leaning back against his head, sleeping. One of Zaraki's massive hands gently held her in place.

Matsumoto nodded.

"Hey," Zaraki said as he gently shook the girl on his shoulder, "We're here."

Yachiru opened her eyes and yawned. Zaraki carefully set her down on the ground. He dropped off her bag and turned to leave when Matsumoto called out to him.

"Zaraki-taicho, can you do me a favor?" she asked.

He turned to face her.

"Could you grab the bed in Hitsugaya-taicho's quarters and bring in here?"

Zaraki let out an annoyed sigh. He walked out of the room and headed towards Hitsugaya's quarters.

Yarichu walked over to Matsumoto and began to poke at Rikichi in her lap. Rikichi brought his face away from Matsumoto's shoulder to glare at her. Yachiru squinted at him studying his face closing before a big smile spread across her face.

"It's the butterfly boy!" she happily exclaimed.

Rikichi's face turned bright red again and he promptly hid his face again in Matsumoto's shoulder. Today was just not going well for him.

Both Matsumoto and Ukitake had to hold back a snicker at Yachiru's description of him.

Zaraki came back in holding the twin size bed with one hand. How he managed to maneuver his large frame plus the bed through the door Matsumoto couldn't figure out, but at least now she would have a place to sleep tonight.

"Just set it over there," Matsumoto said, pointing to a clear wall space. The addition of the bed made the room look hopelessly cluttered but it was serviceable.

Zaraki turned again to go. Yachiru though ran over and hugged his leg.

"Bye Ken-chan," she said.

Zaraki leaned over and patted her head. "You get better now, you hear."

She nodded and let go. Zaraki gave her a smile rarely seen outside of combat, then turned around and left.

"Well I guess I have to going to," said Ukitake, "let me know if you need anything."

"Don't worry I will," said Matsumoto.

Ukitake smiled at the sight of her and Rikichi then turned around and left.

**Well as you can see I've added Rikichi, I had forgotten he even existed but a bunch of you reviewers thought he'd make a good addition. I watched the few clips where he's actually in the anime and fell in love with idea, so thanks to all who review. Now please rate and review this chapter.**


	11. Chapter 11

Shinigami Kids Society

Chapter 11: The Soul Stealing Sickness

Part 1

Yachiru turned to look sleepily at Matsumoto, wondering what to do now. Matsumoto decided it was probably best to get them all settled in now as they all looked like they could use some sleep. Rikichi appeared to be dozing off against her shoulder.

Yachiru was already in her pajamas, but she now noticed that Rikichi was still in his shinigami robes. He hadn't been sleeping in them had he?

She tapped his head, "Hey where are your pajamas?"

"Aren't these fine," he answered sleepily.

She saw that not only were his robes a wrinkled mess from sleeping in them, but also were dirty and stained. She hesitantly leaned forward and sniffed his hair. She immediately pulled back her nose wrinkled in disgust.

"When's the last time you took a shower?" she demanded.

She felt him tense up at the question.

"Renji says that real men don't take showers that often," he complained.

"Argh Renji!" she mentally growled at the red-headed vice captain, "Your supposed to be a role model for kids like this."

To Rikichi she said, "Renji is not here and you boy will be sparkling clean before I even let you think of sleeping on my furniture."

When Rikichi tried to wiggle off her lap and escape she wrapped both arms around him and stood up, holding him again. She started to walk towards her bedroom.

"Don't even think about trying to escape; you're going to take a shower or I will bathe you myself, your choice."

Rikichi whimpered a bit and put his head back down on her shoulder.

"I just want to go to sleep," he sounded pitiful.

She softened a bit, "I know you do, but the warm water will make you feel better, I promise."

She rubbed his back softly, "I'll see if Rin or Hanataro have some pajamas you can borrow, they're much more comfortable to sleep in than your uniform; I'll get you some of your own sometime if your good, ok?"

"Whatever," he relented.

As she walked into the bedroom as a worried Kiyone came out of the bathroom.

"Matsumoto-san…"

"Just call me Rangiku, Kiyone, at least while you're staying here."

"Ok, Rangiku, Rin really doesn't look well," there was panic I her voice.

Matsumoto hurried into the bathroom. She found Rin sitting on the floor back against a wall. He was pale as ghost, panting heavily and staring off into space. Kiyone peered out from behind, looking worriedly at her friend. Matsumoto turned and set Rikichi down next to Kiyone and went over to look at Rin.

"Hi I'm Kiyone," the girl said to the boy.

"Rikichi," he returned glumly.

Rin stared up at Matsumto with a vacant expression as she examined him.

"Matsumoto-san where am I?" he asked, he sounded as if he were about to cry.

"What," the question shocked her, "What do you mean?"

"I don't know," he cried as tears began to fall from his eyes.

Matsumoto sat down and hugged the crying boy.

"It will be ok, we'll figure out what's wrong," she said softly to him.

Turning her head to Kiyone, Matsumoto said, "Don't worry I'm sure he'll be alright once he has some medication in him."

Placing one arm around his back and the other under his rear, Matsumoto stood up with Rin in her arms. Her body groaned in protest.

"Man, taking care of these kids is a workout," she thought, "All that time napping in the office is coming back to haunt me I guess."

She stopped Rikichi, who was trying to quietly step out, with a glare.

"You stay here and get cleaned up, or we will do it my way," she told the boy.

Rikichi hung his head in defeat and walked into the bathroom. Matsumoto left motioning for Kiyone to follow her.

"Kiyone can help Yachiru get ready for bed while I take care of Rin."

"Of course Mat- I mean Rangiku-san," she replied.

Matsumoto smiled; even though the girl had to be feeling like crap she still wanted to help.

"Yachiru can sleep on the love seat and you can take the couch then ok. I already laid out some blankets for you, so go and get sleep."

"Yes mam," Kiyone replied.

Kiyone left and Matsumoto turned her attention to Rin. She grabbed the medicine for Hitsugaya from her nightstand and set Rin down on the bed. Rin just stared blankly at the floor as she gave him the medicine. Not knowing what else to do for him, she lay him down next to Hanataro and Hitsugaya, leaving one last spot on the bed for Rikichi.

After tucking him in she went and grabbed Rin's bag to find some pajamas for Rikichi. Opening it she found something she had not expected, a red teddy bear.

"Huh? Are you Rin's?" she asked the stuffed animal.

She looked over at Rin, who was already dozing off. She walked over and set the bear on his chest and watched as his hands moved to grasp it. Clutching it to his chest, he rolled onto his side and fell asleep.

"They better not tease him about it later," she thought.

She grabbed a pair of Rin's pajamas and set them inside the bathroom for Rikichi.

"I set them on the sink, so you can go to bed as soon as you get out," she told the boy in the shower.

There was a grumbled response that she couldn't quite hear. Shrugging she left the bathroom and went to the living room to check on the girls. They were already set up on the couches, lying down. Kiyone sat up as soon as she entered the room.

"Is Rin alright?" she asked Matsumoto.

Matsumoto wished she knew the answer to that herself but not wanting to worry the girl further she said, "Don't worry I gave him some medicine and he's already sleeping like a baby."

"Thank goodness," Kiyone said.

"Is Yachiru already asleep?" she asked.

"She was really tired," replied Kiyone.

The pink haired girl was indeed asleep clutching what seemed to resemble a pink lion stuffed animal to her chest.

"You should get some sleep to," Matsumoto told Kiyone.

Satisfied that they were all reasonably cared for Matsumoto stepped out into the hall. It had been a long day and she needed a quick breather. Sighing she walked towards the office. Through the windows she could see how late it was getting, the division headquarters seemed deserted as most members were probably already retiring to their quarters.

"Or stuck in the hospital, vomiting their guts out," she thought bitterly.

Arriving at the office she noticed that someone had already cleaned up the mess on the floor Hitsugaya had made earlier that day. She went straight to her desk. Rummaging around in her drawers she found her small secret bottle of sake. Though she desperately wanted to get wasted, her usual way to deal with trouble, she only allowed herself one swig. She had children under her care; she couldn't afford to be impaired.

Sighing again, this time in disappointment she replaced the sake bottle. She started to head back, this time taking the long route that led through the courtyard. Outside she savored the cool night air. It was so fresh, wonderful and inviting. She glanced up at the shining crescent of the moon and let it's light brighten her soul for a bit. The nightlife had always been for her.

All to soon she reached the other side of the courtyard and went indoors. Back at her own quarters she was satisfied to find both girls sleeping soundly. She walked to her room to check on the boys. Hitsugaya and Hanataro were still sleeping soundly, the latter seemed to think that the former was a big teddy bear and was cuddling him to his chest in his sleep.

The sight gave her the giggles, but turning to Rin and Rikichi almost made her burst out laughing. While both were asleep Rikichi's hands seemed to have found Rin's teddy bear and both were wrestling for it in their sleep.

She walked over to her closet. One of the quirks of having Haineko as her soul slayer was the habit of collecting cat plushies. Rummaging through her closet she found a big, black one that she had been planning on teasing Soifon with. Now it was the perfect solution to her problem.

Going back to boys, she carefully eased Rikichi's hands away from Rin's bear. Once they were free she placed the cat in his arms. The boy smiled in his sleep as he cuddled the stuffed animal.

Smiling she bent over and sniffed his hair again. "Much better," she thought as she ran her fingers through it.

She quietly told each one of them goodnight, then walked over and kissed her taicho's forehead. Feeling worn out herself from her days work, Matsumoto decided that it was time for sleep herself. She took a quick shower and went sleep on Hitsugaya's bed in the living room. Normally she tossed and turned for at least an hour before sleep overtook her, but tonight it came quickly and stole her away to her dreams.

**A quick chapter, beginning to develop some plot details for the next. A little shorter than the rest but I wanted to end it at night. Anyway please rate and review!**


	12. Chapter 12

Shinigami Kids Society 

Chapter 12: The Soul Stealing Sickness

Part 2

At precisely the same time she did every morning, Kiyone opened her eyes. This time however she was not on her own bed, but on a couch in a rather crowded living room. She sat up wincing at the stabbing pain behind her eyes. The others were still asleep. Matsumoto was clearly used to her king sized bed as she was sprawled over Hitsugaya's twin size with most of her limbs hanging off. How anyone could possibly comfortable in a position like that Kiyone had no idea.

She wanted to go back to sleep but now since she moved her body had urgent demands. She forced herself to get up and go to the bathroom. After taking care of business, she went back to the living room. Now she was faced with a dilemma. She wanted to go back to sleep but her head was aching horribly by now. She didn't know where the medicine was though. Should she wake up Matsumoto or just deal with it?

Hesitantly she walked up to the bed. "Um, Rangiku-san." She mumbled quietly.

No effect, she tried a little louder, "Rankigu-san?"

"Just five more minutes taicho," Matsumoto said as she shifted around a bit.

Kiyone finally reached out and tapped her on the head. "Rangiku!" she demanded.

"Huh!" Matsumoto sat up suddenly, "Oh Kiyone, did you need something?"

"Sorry to wake you but I don't where the medicine is and my head was hurting so bad I couldn't go back to sleep," Kiyone said with her head down.

"Oh, don't worry about it, I probably would have slept all day if hadn't woken me up," Matsumoto reassured the girl.

Matsumoto stood up, threw back her arms and let out a big yawn. This time of the morning was the most dangerous for her. The temptation to go back to sleep was almost unbearable but she had a job to do and kids to look after. Oh well, she would probably just request some vacation time when this was all over.

She had just grabbed the medicine from her bedroom, which was now the boys' room, when a hell butterfly fluttered in through the bedroom window. It had enough sense not chime loudly with all the sleeping kids nearby, instead it just quickly landed on Matsumoto's outstretched finger.

"Unohana taicho is already on her way here!" she exclaimed when she heard the message.

Matsumoto cursed early risers and those who believed that work should start before noon. Here she was standing in her nightgown with a taicho on the way. She needed to hurry

"Kiyone, here just take the pill and not the sleepy stuff, Unohana taicho is almost here" she said as she handed the pill to Kiyone.

Matsumoto ran and changed into her regulation robes; she was technically on duty, following Unohana's orders. Once she was suitably attired she hastily ran a brush through her hair to make herself look somewhat presentable and not look like someone who had just gotten out of bed five minutes ago.

After realizing that she was looking the best she could in the amount of time she had, Matsumoto forced herself to step away from the bathroom mirror and into the bedroom. Here she observed her still sleeping charges. They were sleeping, but it didn't look restful or peaceful. She saw Rikichi's forehead furrow in pain. Hanataro was sweating from fever and Hitsugaya at his side was no better off.

She was worried for all them, especially her little taicho, but Rin's episode last night frightened her. He had been completely out of it, not sure off where he was or even how he had gotten there. Would Hitsugaya be like that when he woke up? The thought frightened her.

She walked over to the bed and took the sleeping Rin up in her arms. If he was having symptoms like this then Unohana taicho needed to know right away. There was plenty of time to look at the others after Unohana had checked him out.

Right when she sat down on the bed in the living room there came a knock on the door. Luckily Kiyone was still awake, so she answered the door.

"Kiyone, how are you feeling," said Unohana as she walked in, carrying several bags.

"Not my best," the girl replied.

"At least you're awake," came a voice from the hall.

"Sister!" Kiyone cried as Isane walked in, also carrying several bags.

Isane smiled at her little sister. "Good to see you are as loud as ever," the quiet vice captain said smugly.

Kiyone stuck her tongue out at her.

"How is he?" Unohana asked Matsumoto, indicating the boy she was holding.

"I don't know," Matsumoto said, she was stoking the boy's head to gently wake him up, "Last night he had some sort of attack, when I got there he was very confused, asking where he was."

"That's a new symptom," said Isane, suddenly very interested.

"Please lay him out on the bed," said Unohana.

Matsumoto stood up and laid Rin, who was starting to wake up, down on his back. She sat back down on the edge of the bed right near his head. His eyes fluttered open when her weight caused the bed to shift.

"Rangiku," he said weakly.

She smiled a bit; he had called her by her first name.

"Hey buddy," she replied.

"What's going on?" he asked as rubbed his eyes.

"Unohana and Isane are going are just going to see how you're doing."

He stopped rubbing his eyes, "Who are they?" he asked looking at her, his eyes filled with fear.

"Unohana and Isane, you know them; they're from the 4th." She sat him up. "See," she said pointing at the other ladies.

Unohana walked over to the bed, "Do you remember me Rin?" she reached out her hand to feel his head.

"NO!" he scooted behind Matsumoto, "Stay away."

Unohana snatched her hand back, surprised at his reaction. "Oh dear," she said.

Matsumoto turned around to try to settle down the boy, who looked like a cornered rabbit.

"Rin," she began. She put her hand on his shoulder causing him to look up at her. "I know you can't remember, but you do know Unohana and Isane, they're doctors and they're here to make you better."

"Are you sure?" he asked her, she heard the edge of fear in his voice.

"Come here," she said softly as she pulled him into a hug. "I would never let anyone hurt you, so there is no reason to be afraid."

She held him for a moment longer and then released him. After this he allowed Unohana and Isane to examine him, but was holding Matsumoto's hand the whole time.

While Isane examined him physically Unohana asked him a series of questions, trying to determine what he did and did not remember. It was pretty much hit and miss, the gaps in his memory were sporadic. There were small bits of time missing, like him getting sick and being sent here, and then there were large chains of memories, such as memories of people like Unohana and Isane, completely wiped out. The effect left him a very confused little boy with his brow furrowed as he tried desperately to recall information that he should know.

Unohana and Isane exchanged worried looks at each other and moved off to the side to discuss his condition in hushed voices. Kiyone and Yachiru, who had woken up during the questioning, sat on the couch, looking worriedly at Rin. The interrogation had apparently left Rin worn out as was leaning against Matsumoto and dozing off. Matsumoto carefully guided his head down to her lap and let him rest for a bit.

"How are you doing?" she asked him.

"I'm scared," he answered.

She placed her hand on his head, "It will be ok."

"But what if I don't remember, what if I forget even more?" the fear and pain in his voice made her own heart ache for him.

She rolled him over so that he was looking up at her. "Look at me," she said softly, yet firmly, "You have many friends: me, Unohana, Isane, Kiyone, Yachiru and the boys; no matter what happens we'll take care of you."

He brightened up at her statement, "You promise?"

"I promise," she answered.

He rolled back his side again, now with a small smile on his face, and fell asleep.

Matsumoto called over to Unohana and Isane, "Do you need anything else from him or can I put him back to bed?"

They both looked up from their conversation as if just remembering there were other people in the room.

"Oh, Matsumoto," said Unohana, "Yes that would be fine, please bring Hitsugaya back."

Sighing Matsumoto gathered Rin up in her arms and headed for the bedroom. This was the moment she had been dreading. She placed Rin back on the bed and proceeded to untangle her taicho from Hanataro's grasp. She smiled to herself once he was in her arms when she realized that he was much lighter and smaller than the other boys. He probably wouldn't have been happy with the comparison.

She walked out to the living room and looked to Unohana and Isane for instructions; they probably wanted to do a physical first. She was surprised when they simply said "Wake him up."

She sat on the bed with him cradled in her arms. "Come on taicho," she said as she lightly shook him. She heard a small moan as he began to move a bit in her arms as he woke up.

"Taicho," she plucked the tip of his nose lightly. His eye opened.

"Hi there," she said. He didn't respond and continued to stare at her.

"Hello," she waved a finger in front of his face. His eyes lazily followed the finger. He let out a small, soft sigh and closed his eyes. Wiggling around a bit, he adjusted himself in Matsumoto's arms and leaned his head against her chest.

At this point Matsumoto worried, this was not how her captain acted.

She tried one last time, "Taicho?"

The said captain didn't respond, instead he brought his thumb to his mouth and began to gently suck on it.

**OOH! What's going to happen? Don't ask me I'm still deciding myself. Please rate and review!!!**

**P.S. I'm submitting this as soon as I can, but the site is glitch and won't let me.**


	13. Chapter 13

Shinigami Kids Society

Chapter 13: The Soul Stealing Sickness

Part 3

Matsumoto stared dumbfounded at her taicho, who was snuggled in her arms and sucking on his thumb. What was happening was so unthinkable that her brain refused to process it and she just reacted instinctively.

"Stop that," she said as she yanked the offending hand away from his mouth.

"Nnnh!" the boy whined as yanked his hand back and placed the thumb back in his mouth. His eyes were open now, watching her shrewdly in case she made another attempt to grab his hand again.

Normally Hitsugaya acting this childish would have been amusing to her; however in this situation she was far from amused.

Isnane just stood there; staring shocked at the ice-captain. After a moment Unohana began to move forward, determined to get to the bottom of this. Seeing something coming towards him out of the corner of his eye, Hitsugaya whimpered and curled himself up tighter, trying to hide in Matsumoto's arms. Matsumoto instinctively pulled him closer to her to comfort him.

Looking up at Unohana she asked, "What's wrong with him?"

"Please hold him still," Unohana said.

She lifted her hands over his head and let the familiar green light of her medical kido wash over him. Hitsugaya squirmed around and cried, trying to get away from the green light that was frightening him, but Matsumoto held him firmly in place.

"Easy baby, Easy," she cooed at him.

He hiccuped a little and closed his eyes, both hands clutching her robes. He stayed this way through the rest of Unohana's examination. Finally the light dissipated and Unohana pulled her hands back.

Unohana took a deep breath and sighed. Looking at Matsumoto she said, "His spirit power is at an extremely low level, it should have already rebounded by know from his incident yesterday; yet right know he has less spirit power than even Rin."

"That's impossible," exclaimed a shocked Matsumoto. The boy in her arms opened his eyes and looked up at her, wondering what was wrong and why she was being so loud.

Unohana nodded in understanding, "My only conclusion is that whatever he has its' keeping his power level low and not letting it regenerate, it could be even feeding on his power allowing it to have such a hold over his body and mind."

"You mean he's like Rin only he's forgotten so much that he's regressed to this?"

"That's the most plausible explanation for now."

Unohana put her head in her hands and sighed in frustration. Matsumoto was surprised she had never seen the always calm and collected captain like this before.

"I need to get back to the 4th and run more tests, it's frustrating; I've never come across something like this that's affecting so many people and I can't even figure out how to help them."

She looked up at Matsumoto again, "Did you know some of the lower division members have slipped into a coma, nothing seems to help them."

Isane walked over and put her hand on her captain's shoulder. "Taicho…," she said softly.

"Sorry," said Unohana, "Sorry to make you all listen to my depressing talk."

"No it's alright," said Matsumoto, "It shows us how much you really care."

She looked down at the little one in her arms, who had gone back to sucking his thumb and promptly fallen asleep again. "There's no one else I would entrust his life to more than you."

Unohana's characteristic smile returned, "I won't let you all down," turning to Isane she said, "bring the bags, let's show her what we brought for the kid's."

Isane went to grab the bags by the door. As she reached the bags she heard shouting coming from down the hall.

"Sir you can't go down there," said some poor shinigami who had been ordered to keep people away from this area, "The captain is really ill."

"Then move out of my way! If Toshiro worked himself so hard that he became ill then I'm going to go give him a piece of my mind!" a very loud male voice shouted.

"Ichigo!" shouted a female voice only slightly less loud than ichigo's, "People are trying to rest."

"Your shouting just as loud as I am Rukia!" he countered his voice getting even louder.

"Only to match you!" she shot back.

"Still though," she said normally now, "this is an epidemic, people everywhere are getting sick, I hardly think Hitsugaya-taicho did this to himself."

"None of the other captains are this sick," he said as he barged into Matsumoto's quarters, his volume level barely below a shout.

All the loud noise woke Hitsugaya up. Opening his eyes he saw the big, tall and **scary** shinigami come barging into the room with another stranger right behind him. It was too frightening. He sucked in a big breath of air and began to bawl at the top of his lungs.

"Argh," said Ichigo bringing his hands up to cover his ears, "What the heck is wrong with him!"

"Now look what you did," accused Rukia.

"This isn't my fault!" he shouted back.

"Will you two be quiet!" snapped Matsumoto. Both Rukia and Ichigo felt the anger in the command and promptly complied.

Matsumoto turned her attention back to her captain. "Come on baby, it's ok," she cooed as she bounced him a little in her arms. Gradually his wails become sniffles as calmed downed. Seeing his mood was now in a manageable state, Matsumoto gave him a light squeeze then brought her wrath to bear against the intruders.

"What are you two doing here?" she asked them pointedly.

"Well I uh," Ichigo scratched his head, blushing slightly as he realized what an idiot he had been, "Urahara-san told me that there was something big happening in soul society and that I should head here immediately."

"Rukia met me at the gate," he continued, "I found out that everyone was sick even Toshiro so I headed here."

He looked at Hitsugaya again and said, "Can someone please tell me what's going on?"

After hearing the story explained to him and feeling very bad for scaring the poor young captain, he suddenly straightened up and bowed before Matsumoto. "Please forgive me," he said.

"And me too," said Rukia also bowing.

"Oh fine, whatever," said Rangiku, she could never be angry for long.

"We were kind of in the middle of something," she began to continue, but Unohana cut her off.

"Actually Matsumoto I have an idea," Unohana said to her. Turning to the substitute shinigami she said, "Urahara probably didn't tell you the standard procedure during a medical crisis."

Ichigo stared at her quizzically.

"During the crisis all travel from soul society to the living world is forbidden; I signed the order to close all Senkai gates this morning.

"What!" shouted Ichigo, a glare from Matsumoto made him lower his voice, "Why would do something like that?"

"To prevent diseases spreading into the living world's population," answered Unohana.

"But your souls, how can any diseases you have affect humans?"

"Actually," said Isane who raised her hand as if she was in school or something, "Diseases of the soul seem to have even worse affects on the human body."

"Do you know of the bubonic plague?" asked Unohana, "It started out as particularly resistant flu strain here in soul society, but once it reached the human world it mutated and changed into the monster that became known as the Black Death."

"So what you're saying is that I can't go home?" asked Ichigo.

"Yes and that is where my idea comes in," said Unohana.

"Matsumoto has her hands full right now and you don't have anywhere to go, so why don't you stay here and help her."

"Huh!" was the exclamation from everybody else in the room.

"And you Kuchiki will also remain here under Matsumoto's command," Unohana continued, "I'm sure Ukitake won't mind."

"But Unohana-taicho I have duties and what would Nii-san say," Rukia began.

"It's an order," Unohana said, effectively ending Rukia's argument.

"Yes mam," she complied.

"It won't be that bad Rukia," said Kiyone who had been sitting on the couch quietly with Yachiru watching the morning's events.

"Third seat Kiyone!" exclaimed Rukia, blushing realizing all this had occurred under the eyes of one of her direct superiors.

"Don't call me that now," said Kiyone tiredly, "I'm not really dressed up enough for that title," she commented referring to the fact that she was in her pajamas.

Matsumoto began to smile wickedly at Rukia and Ichigo "I could certainly use the help," she said.

"I thought so," said Unohana.

She gestured for Isane to bring the bags they had brought to Matsumoto.

"The children need to have some form of nourishment and as they can't keep down any solids we brought a powdered version of a liquid formula from the 4th. It's high in vitamins and easy on the stomach."

Isane knelt down, pulled out a few boxes of the stuff from the bags. After showing Matsumoto, she set them on the floor.

"We also have more medication as well as a liquid form of the pill that can be directly mixed in with the formula," she cleared her throat, "In the last bag are some ways to get unresponsive kids to take the formula; it may be embarrassing but they need nourishment."

Isane pulled out a baby bottle and handed it to Matsumoto.

"I don't think he'll really mind," Matsumoto said looking down at her captain, who was once again sleeping with his thumb in his mouth.

Isane stood up, "Captain we really need to go."

"There's one more person I have to see," Unohana said quietly.

She walked into the boys' room and shut the door. She quietly moved to the side of the bed and knelt down beside the sleeping figure of Hanataro. The boy moaned in pained and fidgeted in his sleep; caught in the grip of his fever. In the pale morning light that came streaming in from a window Unohana saw his body glisten with beads of seat. Taking a rag from the nightstand from beside the bed she used it to wipe off his sweaty forehead.

While she appeared fine on the outside on the inside her emotions were raging threatening to overcome the barriers she had placed them inside long ago.

"I'll protect you," she whispered quietly to him as she held one of his hands, "I won't let you succumb to this… to this soul stealing sickness."

She wanted to believe that she could. She wanted to believe that there was just one life that she could absolutely protect. Yet the reality of the situation forced an uncharacteristic tear to flow from the corner of her eye. She did even know if the boy she cared for still existed in this sleeping body.

Why did she care so much for this boy? This one boy in particular. Sure he was from her squad and she was the captain; but what they shared was far more than captain-subordinate relationship. She had always protected him, cared for him, held him when he cried.

"Though we aren't related by blood, your still mine," she told the sleeping boy.

It could have been her imagination, but at that time she could have sworn that she saw a small ghost of a smile appear on the fever flushed face.

Standing up and resuming her normal mask of calmness she exited the room.

"We'll let you know if there are any developments," she told Matsumoto and with that she left.

Why she always wore this mask when dealing with others, even she didn't know. Why she always had to appear to have everything under control.

"Perhaps I'm afraid to let others see the real me," she mused quietly as she walked.

But there was one she had let in her heart, one that she loved as her own son and would continue to protect no matter what.

"There are so many things I want to tell him, that I always was afraid to tell him for fear that he would reject me."

That fear had seemed so trivial when she had seen him lying there caught in the grip of the sickness.

As she walked the streets of Seireitei one of her hands tightened into a fist. "I will save everyone," she promised to herself, "I will save you," she promised silently to the boy.

**Hmm I brought Matsumoto some help. Should be interesting don't you think? Please rate and review!!**


	14. Chapter 14

Shinigami Kids Society

Chapter 14: Reporting for duty: The Strawberry and the Snowflake

"Hey," Ichigo said when Unohana went into the boy's room, "You said that Hitsugaya tried to sneak into his office and made himself worse, right?"

Matsumoto nodded wondering what the tall teenager was getting at.

"See," Ichigo said looking at Rukia, "I told you he did this to himself." He pointed at the white-haired boy for emphasis.

"Ichigo! Have a little sympathy for him," said Rukia.

"It's all right," said Matsumoto, "I always told him that working too much was bad for him, but he never listened."

"Maybe this will get through to him?" suggested Rukia.

"Oh don't worry, when he gets better I'm never letting him live this one down," Matsumoto replied.

The said boy slept on, blissfully unaware of the fact that the others were talking about him. Though in his current state of mind he probably wouldn't have understood their speech let alone what they were talking about.

"How are you doing?" Isane asked her sister, she had moved over to sit on the couch with her and Yachiru.

"I already told you," Kiyone said to her.

"No missing memories? No sudden urges to suck your thumb?" Isane said with a smile.

"What do you think!" snapped Kiyone.

This caused Isane to giggle a little. It was always so fun to get her irritable little sister riled up.

"What about you?" she asked Yachiru.

Yachiru yawned "I'm tired," she began, "Shiro-chan is sure acting like a baby isn't he?"

"He's very sick Yachiru," Isane explained to the young girl, "For now we just need to be kind to him."

"Ok," Yachiru chirped up, "He can play with Elly if he wants." She held up her pink elephant, stuffed animal.

"Elly?" Kiyone asked with her eyebrow raised.

"That's her name, Elly the smasher; it's because she stomps on her enemies and leaves a pool of pretty red blood where they used to be, see." She pointed to the bottoms of her elephant's feet. They appeared to be covered in dried red paint.

A collective shudder ran through everyone else. Sometimes they just didn't want to know what ran through the little pink haired sadist's mind.

"Hey," said Ichigo, "Why aren't those two as sick as he is?"

"It's probably just because of their spirit power," said Isane, "Yachiru is a lieutenant and Kiyone is a third seat, they have more spirit power than the boys."

"But wait I thought Hanataro was a 7th seat," said Ichigo.

"Well the 4th isn't exactly the strongest of squads and poor Hanataro worked himself to much like Hitsugaya."

At this moment Unohana came back from the boys' room. The usual calm smile graced her face, but after spending so many years with her Isane knew how to read her captain no matter how hard she tried to keep up her mask. One look told her that Unohana was troubled.

"Hanataro must be really be sick," she thought.

The boy held a special place in her captain's heart and in hers as well. They had always been there to protect him. Being unable to do anything to help him was really taking its toll on her captain.

She quietly excused herself to follow after her captain. They both walked back to 4th deep in thought. Unohana's thoughts concerned a boy while Isane was thinking of ways she could cheer up her captain. She realized though that seeing Hanataro up and walking around was the only thing that would make that smile on Unohana's face genuine again.

"Don't worry captain I won't let you go through this alone," she silently promised her.

"They left in a hurry," observed Ichigo, he turned to Matsumoto, "Well I guess I'm stuck here what do you need us to do?"

Matsumoto handed the bottle to Rukia. "There's a kitchenette in the taicho's quarters, can you go make his bottle."

"You want it warmed?" Rukia asked.

Matsumoto smiled, Rukia was getting the idea, "there's a microwave." Just because her taicho was sick didn't mean she couldn't have some fun at his expense.

"Ichigo, you can handle the medicine, mix it in after she's finished and make some for the girls to, but don't put the fever med in Kiyone's, she already had a dose" ordered Matsumoto.

"Sure thing," said Ichigo. He picked one of the boxes of formula and the bag of medicines.

After they left Yachiru jumped up headed for the bathroom, luckily she wasn't going to throw up though. Only Matsumoto, Kiyone, and the sleeping Hitsugaya were left in the room.

"Are you really going to give Hitsugaya a bottle?" Kiyone asked with a giggle.

"Why not?" said Matsumoto as one of her hands played with the boy's soft hair, "We really don't know what's going on in his head because he's isn't talking and besides if he's sucking on his thumb he may like the bottle."

"If you're sure," said Kiyone, "Just as long as I don't get frozen, these chills in my body are enough as it is."

"He doesn't have enough power to freeze anything right now," sighed Matsumoto, "Maybe this will teach him to take care of himself from now on."

"He is kinda cute like that though," suggested Kiyone.

"He sure is," Matsumoto agreed as she gave her little one a light squeeze.

A soft light hum came from the boy in response to the hug. Both Kiyone and Matsumoto shared a laugh.

A few minutes later Rukia returned with the bottle in her hands. She quickly gave it to Matsumoto and sat down on the couch next to Kiyone to watch.

"You sure you want to do that?" asked Matsumoto, "He might go after any witnesses when he gets better."

"It's worth the risk," said Rukia.

Matsumoto shrugged her shoulders and went back to the task at hand. She set the bottle down beside her. Using both hands she sat Hitsugaya up on her lap. His head went limp to the side, looking for support. Matsumoto reached up and took his thumb out of his mouth. The effect was immediate as he began to cry and opened his eyes.

"You must have been a grumpy baby, buddy," she told him as she leaned him back against one of her arms in a half-sitting position, "You never wake up happy."

He whimpered a bit, took one of his fists and awkwardly rubbed his head.

"Is your head hurting you?" Matsumoto cooed softly at him as she picked up the bottle with her other hand, "This will make it feel better." She gently slid the tip into his mouth.

He looked up at her with wide tired eyes, wondering what to do with the foreign object in his mouth. She gave the bottle the tiniest of squeezes to squirt a little in his mouth so he could taste it. The girls all held their breath as he swallowed the small amount of formula wondering what his reaction would be.

Hitsugaya began to hesitantly pull from the bottle, picking up speed as he settled into a steady rhythm.

"See he likes it," Matsumoto told the girls.

"Crap! I missed the beginning," Yachiru said as she came back from the bathroom.

Hitsugaya closed his eyes and cuddled into Matsumoto; letting out a soft sigh of contentment before continuing to suckle at the bottle.

"Feels good to get something in your stomach, huh baby," Matsumoto said to him. She leaned down and kissed his forehead. He may have been sick but she was enjoying him being so cuddly.

"I wish I had my camera," said Rukia.

"Do you want another death sentence," Ichigo said as he came back into the room carrying two cups, "You almost died from the last one."

"Here you go," he said as he handed them to Kiyone and Yachiru.

"Thanks Ichi," Yachiru said happily.

"Huh?" Kiyone said after she took a sip, "It tastes sweet."

"I mixed in a little sugar for you two, so you would like it," said Ichigo.

"You didn't put any in his right?" Matsumoto asked him, "He isn't really used to sugar yet."

"No, no of course not," Ichigo answered.

"Good, the last thing we need is for him to be tired, cranky and unable to fall asleep," said Matsumoto.

"He is a little loud when he's upset," Ichigo said referring to when he first walked in and scared the boy on accident.

"Hopefully he won't be like that too often," said Matsumoto.

"Ichi," said Yachiru, "Do you want to play today?"

"I think you're gonna want to fall asleep after this Yachiru, I put the sleepy medicine in there.'

"Oh ok," Yachiru said a little dejectedly, "Tomorrow then."

"We'll see, we'll see," answered Ichigo, "Now come on, finish it up.

Yachiru went back to sipping at the milky liquid.

Matsumoto looked down to see that Hitsugaya was almost done with his bottle. The combination of warm formula and medication was taking effect; his pulls were coming slower and slower as he drifted off to a restful sleep.

"Everybody be quiet for bit," Matsumoto whispered, "He's almost out."

As soon as he stopped suckling Matsumoto carefully pulled the tip out of mouth. Hitsugaya curled up a little more in her arms and fell into a deep sleep. Matsumoto stood up.

"I'm going to go put him to bed," she said.

"What about the boys?" asked Rukia.

Matsumoto grinned wickedly, "They're next."

**Wow I updated quickly this time, but in return I want more reviews! Thanks to all of you who do review and to those who haven't yet it's never too late to start. **

**This chapter was a little shorter but I felt it was a good stopping point as I haven't plotted out the next segment yet.**


	15. Chapter 15

Shinigami Kids Society

Chapter 15:

Matsumoto's Cruel Idea

Matsumoto handed Hitsugaya's empty bottle to Rukia. "Are there any more in the bag?"

Rukia quickly grabbed the bag that Isane had pulled the bottle from.

"There's enough," she answered.

Ichigo looked at both of them for second before it dawned on him. "Oh you two are cruel," he said. Then he grinned, "Let's do it."

"You two go make them quickly while I put him down," Matsumoto said.

"Let's go," Ichigo told Rukia. They both hurried out of the room.

"What's going on?" Kiyone asked.

"You'll see," Matsumoto answered.

She walked into the boy's room carrying her sleeping taicho. Seeing how most of the bed was taken over by the other boys, she decided to wait for Rukia and Ichigo to come back and make some room before laying Hitsugaya down. She leaned back against wall to make herself more comfortable.

Hitsugaya shifted in her arms a little to get his hand free. Still asleep, he brought it up to his mouth and began to suck his thumb again. Matsumoto smiled and brushed some of his hair away from his face. He looked so peaceful and innocent now, so little and defenseless. Matsumoto felt a warm tugging in her heart. Before he had always been so independent, always acting so mature, so afraid to show affection. Now he wanted her to hold him. Now he wanted her to comfort him. He **needed** her now. And, even if this change only lasted as long as he was sick, she was determined to give him as much love and comfort as he could stand.

The sound of approaching footsteps broke her out her little maternal moment. The footsteps quieted as they neared the bedroom and the door quietly opened.

"Rangiku?" Ichigo whispered as he tiptoed into the room. He looked and saw her leaning against the wall.

"Are we all set?" she asked him just as quietly.

"Ready to go," said Ichigo.

Rukia stepped into the room, "Who do I get?" she asked.

"You're too short to carry anybody," Ichigo told her, "Go sit on the couch and I'll bring you Rin."

Rukia flashed him a look of extreme annoyance at the short comment but held her mouth as not to wake the kids.

Ichigo looked at Matsumoto. "I'll take Hanataro," he said, "You can have the little Renji-stalker."

"Fine by me," replied Matsumoto.

Ichigo smiled as he picked up Rin, teddy bear still clutched to his chest. He quickly took Rin to the living room and returned for Hanataro.

"No stuffed animal for this guy?" Ichigo joked as he picked him up.

"He was cuddling the taicho before I took him away," Matsumoto said.

"You should have taken pictures of that," Ichigo said, "I would have paid to see those."

"Now that would be too cruel," Matsumoto said with a smile.

Ichigo laughed quietly as he carried Hanataro out of the room.

Luckily the comforter and sheets were already warmed from the other boys, so Hitsugaya didn't wake up when Matsumoto placed him on the bed. She quickly pulled the comforter over him and tucked him in tightly. She noted, when she felt his forehead, that the medication they mixed into his bottle was already starting to bring his fever down.

"Sleep well little one," she told him quietly.

Confident that her captain was cared for Matsumoto turned her attention to the other boy in the room. Rikichi was still cuddling the cat she had given him last night.

"So much for his tough guy act," she thought.

She went to pick him up but as soon as her hands touched him his eyes shot open.

Matsumoto was a little startled but recovered quickly. "Hey there buddy," she said.

Rikichi brought his hands up to rub his eyes.

"How are you feeling?" she asked him, trying to get him to say something.

"I hurt," he said tiredly, bringing a hand to his forehead.

It was a reasonable enough answer but the way he said it caught her attention. His voice sounded a little different than last night.

"Rikichi, who am I," she asked him.

He looked lost for a second, then his face brightened, "Mommy?" he said.

"Mommy?" Matsumoto blinked, "Crap, he means me!" Horror filled her at the realization.

"Mommy, I hurt," Rikichi said in a small voice, as he lifted his arms up to Matsumoto.

Matsumoto reached down and picked the boy up. She decided to play "mommy" for now since she really didn't know what else to do.

"Great, another one with mental issues," she thought.

She patted his back as she walked back to the living room. "Come on buddy, I'll give you something that will make your head feel better," she told him.

"Hmm," he answered as he laid his fevered head down on her shoulder. He held his kitty by one of its legs and was half-heartedly swinging it as they walked.

_Rukia-_

Yachiru and Kiyone had relocated themselves to the love seat while Rukia took the couch. Ichigo came walking back in carrying Rin.

"Here's a present for you," he said. Rukia smiled as he placed the sleeping boy on her lap.

Rukia propped Rin up against one of her arms and grabbed one of the bottles they had just made.

"Now come on wake up," she commanded the sleeping boy.

"You could say it a little nicer," suggested Kiyone, "He's having a really bad day."

"Fine," Rukia said, she was a noble and used to giving commands.

In a softer voice she said to Rin, "Wake up; I have a surprise for you."

The boy shifted around a little before slightly cracking open his eyes.

"Uhhh," he cried while quickly sitting up. "Who are you?" he asked in a pitiful voice.

"Shh, it's ok," Rukia said in a comforting voice, "You know me Rin, Matsumoto has me staying here now to help take care of you."

"Rangiku asked you to?" he asked.

"Yes she did," Rukia said as she leaned back against her arm, "Ichigo is here too; do you remember him."

"Yeah," Rin said softly. Then he saw the bottle she was holding. "What's that for?"

She tightened her grip on him. "We just need to get something in your stomach."

"But I don't want a bottle!" he cried. He weakly tried to wiggle out of her grasp.

As much as he was getting riled up Rukia could see that he was having a hard time keeping his eyes open. "Poor boy must really be tired," she thought.

"Don't throw a tantrum now, Hitsugaya already had his and he didn't throw a fit about it." She didn't add that the little captain wasn't exactly himself at the moment.

Rin stopped struggling at that revelation. "He had one?"

"Yes," Rukia slipped the tip into his mouth, "Now drink, we mixed the medicines in so drink it all."

Rin blushed as he began to slowly pull from the bottle. "At least the flavor isn't to bad," he thought. The warm formula soon took effect and he closed his tired eyes. He curled up a little more on Rukia's lap and began to suckle faster.

"There see, it's not so bad," Rukia told him.

She looked up to see Ichigo standing there, cradling Hanataro, with a wide grin of barely restrained laughter on his face.

"How long have you been standing there?" she demanded.

"Long enough," he replied playfully, "I didn't think you could be so kind to anyone."

Rukia felt her face heat up in anger but since she was holding Rin she couldn't beat the crap out of the orange-haired teenager.

Ichigo ignored the death glares he was receiving and took a seat on the other end of the couch. Hanataro was already partially awake from all the noise. Ichigo picked up a bottle and pushed the tip into the boy's slightly open mouth.

Hanataro opened his grey eyes. "Ichigo," he tried to say around the nipple. He looked to see what was in his mouth. He blushed lightly when he saw the bottle.

"Hey Hanataro," Ichigo said in a calm soothing voice, "I know you don't feel well but I need you to drink this all up ok."

The timid boy blushed again before nodding slightly. Feeling very self-conscious he started to suckle at the bottle. Ichigo smiled and cradled the boy more to his chest. Feeling warm, safe and secure Hanataro closed his eyes.

"How did you do that?" Rukia asked, "He did even argue about drinking from it."

Ichigo brushed Hanataro's bangs away from his eyes.

"My dad runs a clinic you know," Ichigo began, "It's all about how you present it to them."

"Yeah right," said Rukia

"I think that Hanataro just likes you," Kiyone said.

"Likes me?" Ichigo questioned, what was she getting at?

"He thinks of you like a big brother," Yachiru added.

It was Ichigo's turn to blush. He looked down at the boy in his arms. Did Hanataro really look up to him like that?

Matsumoto walked in to the living room with Rikichi. "You all started without me I see," she said as she grabbed the last bottle.

"It just worked out that way," Ichigo said.

"This one put up a fight though," Rukia said looking down at Rin, "If he hadn't been half-asleep already I would had a hard time getting him to drink it."

"Drink what Mommy?" Rikichi asked as Matsumoto sat down on the bed.

All the other shinigami in the room, minus the two drinking their bottles, turned to stare at Matsumoto.

"Mommy?" Ichigo mouthed.

"Play along," she mouthed back.

To Rikichi she said, "Rukia is giving Rin his breakfast, you know Rin right?"

"He's my friend," the boy said happily.

"That's right," she sat the boy on her lap and leaned him back against one of her arms, "Now be a good boy and drink your breakfast." She held up the bottle and tried to put it in his mouth.

Rikichi turned his head away as he whined, "No Mommy, I'm a big boy!"

"I know you are buddy, but this is good for you and will make you feel better," she told him.

Little tears began formed in his eyes "Do I have to?" he asked in voice that was practically a sob.

"Please do it for Mommy," she pleaded. It felt awkward using that word. She had never been anyone's mommy before. She might have mothered her captain a bit but he certainly never called her mom, let alone mommy.

Rikichi stuck his bottom lip out in a pout before opening his mouth to accept the bottle.

"That's better," she cooed at him as she placed the tip in his mouth. As he began to drink he snuggled up closer to Matsumoto. His cat dropped to the floor forgotten.

Kiyone and Yachiru were yawning and beginning to nod off as they sat on the love seat.

"If you girls want to go to sleep, the bedroom is open," Matsumoto said, "Just don't wake up the taicho please."

Kiyone nodded and helped Yachiru walked to the bedroom. The smaller girl in her half-asleep state kept stumbling on her own feet.

"Well this is different," Rukia said once the girls had left.

"You could say that" Matsumoto replied.

"You think Rikichi is going down like Hitsugaya?" asked Ichigo.

"Well at least he can talk," she answered.

"What are we going to do with these kids?" Ichigo asked jokingly.

"We'll take it one step at a time," Matsumoto answered with a smile.

**Thanks to all of you who pointed out the mistakes in the last chapter. I have since gone back and corrected the situation. If it ever happens again (which I'm sure it will) just tell me and I'll fix it as soon as possible. **

**This chapter was a little harder to write as it was basically the same thing happening to each of three boys, but I wanted to establish some character relations that will come into play later.**

**Anyway please rate and review. Big thanks to all my reviewers!!!**


	16. Chapter 16

Shinigami Kids Society

Chapter 16: Tantrums and Bath Time

The boys fell asleep shortly after. Since the girls and Hitsugaya already occupied the bedroom they let them sleep in the living room, Rikichi got the bed, Hanataro the sofa and Rin the love-seat.

"Phew, they're all finally out," Ichigo said.

"Don't jinx us," Rukia said to him.

As if on cue they all heard Kiyone's voice calling for Matsumoto.

"And just when we thought we could take a break," sighed an already exhausted Matsumoto, taking care of kids was hard work, something she really wasn't used to.

She dragged herself over into the bedroom.

"He woke up," Kiyone told her as she entered the bedroom, "We didn't make a sound I swear, I was just going to sleep when he just suddenly sat up."

The boy in question was indeed awake and sitting up. He wiggled and shifted around a bit whimpering as he did so.

"What's the matter baby," Matsumoto said, reaching out to touch the side of his face. She hated seeing him in pain.

Both of his hands slowly reached up and grabbed hers. "hmmm," he whimpered softly at her.

"Oi," Ichigo said as he stuck his head into the room, "You think maybe he has to go to the bathroom?"

"Oh," Matsumoto simply said. She hurriedly picked him up and whisked off to the bathroom. Thankfully she made it in time.

"We're lucky," she thought, "That his muscles still remembered to hold it even though his mind doesn't." She shuddered to think about the mess that almost happened.

When he was done with his business, she sat down on the bathroom floor and pulled him onto her lap.

"Time for you to go back to sleep little one," she told him.

He looked up at her, whimpered and rubbed his head a little; his way of indicating that his head still hurt.

"I'm sorry your head hurts," Matsumoto said in a honey sweet tone, she rubbed his head a little for emphasis.

He stopped whimpering at the sound of her voice and tilted his head a little to the side in question. Then he opened his mouth a waited, looking expectantly at Matsumoto.

"What?" she asked. Her taicho's strange little way of communication was confusing.

He whimpered a bit before opening his mouth again, this time with more emphasis.

"You want another bottle," Matsumoto said, realizing at last what her taicho's antics meant. Hitsugaya was a genius after all and even in this state he wasn't stupid. He had realized that after the bottle he had before his head had felt a little better. He didn't know about the medicine in the bottle though and thought the bottle was what made his head stop hurting so bad.

"You can't have another one now, you just had a dose of meds," Matsumoto told him.

Hitsugaya gave a small cry and opened his mouth insistently. He looked at Matsumoto with teary eyes.

"No, little one," she said, "Puppy dog eyes won't work on me."

At this answer Hitsugaya brought both of hands to his head and began to cry loudly.

"Don't throw a tantrum over it!" Matsumoto pleaded with the little one on her lap.

The rapidly turning red-faced taicho simply took a deep breath and sobbed harder; crying quickly turning into screaming. With no other recourse, as his tantrum would soon wake everyone up, Matsumoto shoved his head into her chest, effectively smothering his cries.

"You never were happy when you didn't get your way, were you taicho?" she asked him quietly. "You always scream my name at me whenever I ditch work."

The crying boy was so surprised at her actions that he actually stopped and quieted down.

"That's better," Matsumoto cooed at him. She released his head and shifted him to a more comfortable position.

"You brought that on yourself you know," she teased him.

He simply laid his head back down against her chest and whimpered softly.

Matsumoto heard knocking on the bathroom door. "Is everything all right in there?" Ichigo asked.

"Everything's fine now," she answered him, "You can come in."

The orange haired teen entered bathroom. He took a look at the little white haired captain, whose face was still red and tear stained, and shook his head.

"What was it this time?" he asked.

"His head is still hurting and he was mad that I wouldn't give him another bottle."

Ichigo knelt down next to them and felt Hitsugaya's forehead.

"You can't have anymore right now Shiro," he told the boy.

"Did he wake up the others?" Matsumoto asked Ichigo.

"No I think we got lucky."

Matsumoto let out a sigh of relief.

"If he's still feeling bad, you could give him his bath now; the warm water will probably make him sleep," Ichigo suggested.

"Well then we're down to his last clean set of pajamas," Matsumoto said.

"Can't you just wash them?" Ichigo asked.

They both looked towards the direction of Matsumoto's hamper which actually just a mountain of clothes that seemed to nearly reach the ceiling.

"Geez, do ever do laundry!" he inquired.

"Do I look that motivated?" she asked him, "Usually only when I run out of things to wear."

"I'll ask Rukia to get on it," Ichigo said as he stood up left the room, pushing the mountain of laundry out through the door.

Once he was gone, Matsumoto scooted over with her taicho to the tub. She started the water running and put the stopper. As the tub was beginning to fill she sat there holding her taicho.

"Did you notice taicho? He called you Shiro, not Hitsugaya or even Toshiro just Shiro and you didn't even get upset."

She began to pull off his green pajama top, getting him ready for his bath.

"I wonder if you'll remember any of this when you get better," she told him, "I wonder if you'll be any different."

After testing to make sure that the water wasn't too hot, she carefully lowered him into the tub.

"Just so you know," she said as wet his hair, "No matter what happens you will always be my taicho and I will take care of you no matter what; OK, taicho?."

Though he couldn't understand a word she was saying, Histsugaya let out a small sigh at her words; Matsumoto decided that she had her answer.

As Ichigo predicted the warm water lulled the tired boy to sleep as Matsumoto washed him. Once he was washed and dried Matsumoto dressed him in his last set of pajamas, pure black. On the top though was emblazoned a snow-white dragon.

**A short chapter to celebrate my return! To all those who wondering where on earth I vanished to, I've had just about the craziest month you could imagine. I have two new siblings (yeah!) a thousand projects for the end of the college! Please Review!!!  
**


	17. Chapter 17

Shinigami Kids Society

Chapter 17: When the Ash Cat's Away the Mice Will Play

In the middle of the afternoon Matsumoto left, stating that it was her duty as vice-captain to check on the status of the division. This sounded unusually responsible of her, so Ichigo and Rukia decided that she probably just wanted a break away from the kids.

"Don't be out to late," Ichigo warned her.

Rukia had been slaving away at the laundry in the division's laundry room for most of the afternoon, while Ichigo had been doing odd tasks such as organizing the rather crowded living space and deciding where he and Rukia would sleep. He decided they that they would sleep in sleeping bags on the floor in Hitsugaya's quarters that way they were close enough in case Matsumoto needed their help in the middle of the night.

He had just come up with this solution, when the main door opened.

"Yo," Renji said, poking his head in, "Anybody there?"

"Renji nii-san!" Rikichi shrieked as ran towards Renji with his arms wide open. He had woken up a little while ago.

"Hey what," Renji blustered out as he was almost tackled by the boy, "What the crap's gotten into you?"

"You'll get used to it," Ichigo said, "The sickness has made him a bit…excitable."

"Renji up, up," Rikichi commanded waving his arms in the air. .

"You want me to pick you up?" Asked Renji dumbfounded, this was so not what he had expected.

The sound of demeaning laughter came from the hallway. "See Renji, there is someone in the world who likes you."

"Huh," said Ichigo, "Who's there?  
Into the room stepped a woman in an orange and black outfit with purple hair, Yoruichi Shihoin.

"Yoruichi-san," gasped Ichigo, "what are you doing here?"

"I wanted to see what was going on in Soul Society with my own eyes; once I heard what you two were up two I had to come see for myself." She looked back at Renji who had finally give in and picked Rikichi up; her grin widened, "And I'm not disappointed."

Renji face heated up in embarrassment, "I'm just being nice to a sick boy."

Yoruichi let out her laugh again; to her this was one of the most interesting things to happen in a while and she intended not to miss any of it.

"Please keep it down," Ichigo said suddenly, looking back towards the bedroom door with dread in his eyes, "We don't want to wake Toshiro up while Matsumoto's gone."

"Why not?" asked Yoruichi, she was very curious from the rumors she had heard at the 4th division.

"Because we'll never get him to be quiet," said Rukia as she walked in from the hall way carrying a large basket of clean laundry, "He's the worst off of the whole pack."

"He'll miss mommy," Rikichi simply stated, nodding his head.

Renji gave the boy a strange look. "Are you sure Hitsugaya-taicho's the worst off?" he asked.

"Oh he's nothing compared to the little white haired devil," Ichigo said.

The other two boys in the room had woken up from the conversation and were staring sleepily at the group as they talked.

Ichigo was the first to notice and turned his attention to them. "Hey guys, how are you feeling?" he asked in his kind voice.

"Tired," was Hanataro's answer, "Rikichi's too loud." He lay back down and covered his head with a pillow. The others exchanged worried glances. Although Hanataro seemed to retain most of his mental faculties, he by far looked the sickest. His pale face and dark hair was covered with sweat from his fever.

"But you're always tired," observed Rin. Turning back to Ichigo he asked, "Who are they?" He was pointing to Yoruichi and Renji.

Both Yoruichi and Renji shot the boy a strange look.

"He doesn't remember much, especially people," Ichigo told them.

"It's ok," Ichigo said in a comforting voice, "You know them, that man is Renji the 6th division fukataicho and that woman is Yoruichi, you know… the cat lady."

Yoruichi smacked Ichigo on top of his head. "You make me sound some crazy old woman," she said angrily, remarks about her age always set her on edge.

"Which is exactly what you are," Ichigo muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" Yoruichi asked, her eyes developing an evil glare.

"Nothing," Ichigo hastily corrected himself.

"Thought so," she replied her usual smile returning.

"Ichigo-san, Rukia-san," Kiyone said as she came out of the bedroom door, "There's too much noise; he's waking up."

Rukia rolled her eyes, "Great, now look at what you guys did."

Ichigo and Rukia hurried into the bedroom, followed by Yoruichi and Renji, who was carrying Rikichi. They found Yachiru sitting next to Hitsugaya, stroking his hair and whispering to him, begging him to stay asleep. Despite her ministrations his eyes kept partially opening and closing until finally he was wide awake and looking at them.

Rukia, Ichigo and the kids braced themselves for the expected tantrum, but for once the little white haired boy had woken up in a good mood. He had gotten a good nap and had slowly woken up to somebody stroking his hair, which had felt nice. He looked and saw a pink-haired girl sitting next to him. She must have been the one who was being nice to him. He smiled at her and clumsily threw his arms around her in a hug and laid his head down in her lap.

Yachiru was the first to recover. "Yay, Shiro-chans happy," she said as she hugged him back and commenced to patting his head again.

Rukia was once again wishing for a camera when she felt Yoruichi slip one into her hand.

"Have fun," Yoruichi mouthed and flashed her trademark mischievous grin. Rukia quickly snapped a few shots with the flash off so as not to startle anyone.

While everyone else was distracted with the scene Yoruichi took the opportunity to slip unnoticed into the bathroom. Once the door was shut she quickly began to undress. It wasn't her fault really; it was just how she had always been. She had always played around and messed with the younger shinigami; it was her entertainment, her game. Most of them needed it desperately anyway, considering the hard lives they lead. She thought fondly back of the times when she teased a young Byakuya Kuchiki. Well there was no use changing her nature now.

A few seconds later a black cat walked out of the bathroom.

Hitsugaya had just sat up when he noticed the black thing coming towards him. Chirping happily, he held out his hands for it. Yoruichi obliged and climbed into his lap, allowing the little taicho to hug her and rub his face against her soft fur.

"Yoruichi what are you doing?" asked Ichigo as Rukia took some more photos.

"Just letting the kid be a kid," she replied.

"Well you might want to wait until I've had a chance to take him to the bathroom," Ichigo stated bluntly.

"Oh," was all Yoruichi managed to say as she hastily jumped off the boy's lap.

"Uh," Hitsugaya cried out after the kitty, reaching out for her. When she didn't come back he buried his head in his hands and began to sniffle.

Ichigo moved swiftly and picked the snifling boy up. "Please Shiro, no waterworks," he said as rubbed comforting circles on the boy's back.

When the sniffles began to turn into actual tears Ichigo sighed and turned to Rukia. "We're going to need another bottle, just no sleepy med this time."

"Got it," Rukia said as she headed out the door.

"Come on buddy," Ichigo said as he carried the boy into the bathroom as Yoruichi came out, back in her human form.

While Ichigo was taking care of Hitsugaya, Renji looked down at the boy he was carrying.

"Well," he told Rikichi, "I really should be going now."

"What," Rikichi said, disappointment clearly visible on his face, "Already?"

"I'll come back to visit real soon I promise," he tried to console the raven-haired boy

"But…"

"You're going to miss the entertainment," Yoruichi butted in. She clearly wasn't going to miss this for anything in the world.

"Yea," Rikichi agreed, "Please stay longer." He hugged Renji for emphasis.

"Maybe Rikichi just wants another bottle of his own," Kiyone snickered. She and Yachiru exchanged knowing grins.

Rikichi went fire engine red and tried to hide his face in Renji's robes.

"Hey now what's this," Renji said, poking his finger at Rikichi's causing the boy to come out of hiding as he was laughing because it tickled. "Does someone want their ba-ba?" he teased the boy.

"Renji," whined Rikichi.

The red head just smirked; he enjoyed the game as much as Yoruichi even though he wasn't as good at it.

"Fine, I'll stay longer Rikichi…if you have your bottle."

"What, nooo…" cried Rikichi.

"It's your choice," Renji declared, surprised at how ruthless he could be if he wanted to.

"But..." He didn't want everyone to watch, but if it meant he got to be with Renji longer...

"Fine," Rikichi pouted with his bottom lip stuck out. He really wanted to stay with Renji.

"I'll get it," Yoruichi said as she flash stepped away in the direction Rukia went.

About this time Ichigo came out of the bathroom carrying Hitsugaya. He noted that Yoruichi was missing; the two girls kept on giggling every time they glanced in Renji's direction and that the boy that Renji was carrying was making a face that matched the one on the boy he was carrying.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Nothing," the girls replied before bursting into another fit of giggling.

"Right," said Ichigo, deciding not to push the matter. To Kinyone he asked, "Can you go check on Rin and Hanataro?"

"Sure thing." On her way out she paused to smirk at Rikichi, who tried again to hide his face in embarrassment.

"They're both out cold again," She reported a moment later when returned.

"Good, let's let them sleep for now," Ichigo told her.

"All Hana's done is sleep," complained Yachiru.

"It's what he does best," Renji commented.

"Hey now," countered Ichigo, "he's really ill and in pain right now; the more sleep he gets the better."

"Yeah, yeah, no harm intended," corrected Renji. He had a soft spot for both Hanataro and Rikichi ever since they had helped heal his injuries after his disastrous fight with his captain.

"We're back," announced Rukia as she and Yoruichi entered the room.

"Why do you both have bottles?" asked Ichigo.

"Well a certain someone made a deal so that a certain red head would stay longer," Yourichi said.

Ichigo shook his head."You all have cruel and malicious dark sides," he noted, no cared to object.

Hitsugaya, who had just started to suck his thumb again, saw the bottle that Rukia had in her hands; he immediately took his thumb out and made grabbing motions with his hands towards.

"Ba-ba," he whimpered as he looked at Ichigo with a look of desperate longing.

Who could resist that face Ichigo thought as took the bottle from Rukia and shifted the boy in his arms so that he was lying on his back. Hitsugaya opened his mouth to accept the bottle and happily began to suck once it was given. The boy sighed contentedly and fell into a steady rhythm.

Ichigo looked over and saw that Renji had sat down on the bed and positioned Rikichi in much the same way as Hitsugaya. Rikichi however was far less enthusiastic about the whole situation than Hitsugaya was.

Renji had to fight the tip into his mouth at first and coax him to begin to take the formula.

"Come on buddy," he cooed to him, "You know you'll like it."

Never taking his eyes off Renji, Rikichi began to slowly take the formula from his own bottle.

"There you go," Renji said as he gave Rikichi a light squeeze in appreciation.

This caused Rikichi to give a small smile and encouraged him to pull faster. Closing his eyes he cuddled closer and he allowed himself to match the rhythm of Renji's heart.

Rukia finally gave her camera a rest once she thought she had enough pictures.

"I wonder when Matsumoto will be back?" she thought aloud.

**There finally a new update. Please review!!!**


	18. Chapter 18

Shinigami Kids Society

Chapter 18: The Mystery of the Disease

Contrary to the others belief, Matsumoto was not out for pleasure; rather she was at the 4th division, seeing if they had made any progress.

"Come on, I just want to know what you've been doing," Rangiku demanded.

"Rangiku, please it's only been a day," Isane tried to placate the adamant women.

"But have you found out anything?" an impatient Rangiku continued.

"Matsumoto-san," came a quiet, gentle, yet eerily frightening voice.

Matsumoto turned to see the 4rth division captain walking towards her.

"Unohana-taicho," she managed to garble out as she sweat-dropped. Why did this woman always have such an effect on people? Why was that smile so frightening when you knew she was annoyed with you.

"Matsumoto-san," Unohana continued in her calm measured pace, "My people are trying to find a solution to this epidemic; I would appreciate it if you refrained from hassling them while they work."

Matsumoto knew she was being a pest, but she was just worried about her taicho.

"My apologies, Unohana-taicho," she said respectfully, "I was trying to determine the progress that had been made in combating this disease.

Unohana's face softened at this; she understood Matsumoto's feelings.

"Do not worry Rangiku-san, we'll find a way to return him to normal," she assured the younger woman.

Matsumoto broke down a little at the mention of her taicho.

"He can't even talk though," she said, a look of despair in her eyes, "he just looks at me so helplessly when he cries and he can't even tell me what's wrong."

Unohana understood the pain that Matsumoto was feeling, she had felt it all too often throughout the many years she had served as captain of the 4th division and she felt it especially now.

"The best thing you can do for him now," Unohana began as she put her hand on Matsumoto's shoulder, "is be there for him; comfort him, and keep him safe."

"Hai," Matsumoto said softly.

"We'll find the answer shortly," Unohana continued as he pulled away, "although it doesn't seem like it, we have made progress."

Matsumoto instantly perked up and listened, this was news to her.

"So far the disease has yet to prove fatal," Unohana explained, "in the interest of preventing it from spreading further we are trying to discover how it was spread; we have discovered two important things."

She paused to collect her thoughts for a moment, making Matsumoto impatient.

"What?" Matasumoto finally asked.

"First is that the disease is not spread from person to person, second is that it is not present in the air also," seeing Matsumoto's confused look Unohana continued, "While we stopped travel to and from the living world, there was still travel into Rukongai. There are no cases of this disease reported in Rukongai, any sickness borne on the air or spread person to person that has so decimated the Court of Pure Souls would have also spread there, regardless of quarantine. Our only conclusion is that the disease is contracted and spread by something within the court itself."

"So how is it spread?" asked Matsumoto.

"We still do not know," answered Unohana.

"But…what does all that matter then?"

Unohana sighed; Matsumoto was acting like a worried mother and was beginning to wear down even her infinite patience.

"Rangiku-san, the more we learn about the nature of the disease, the faster we'll be able to beat it," she put it simply.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Matsumoto asked, feeling guilty for doubting one of the elder captains.

"Actually there is, could you bring Hitsugaya by sometime tomorrow to have his blood drawn; I'd rather not have too but he seems to be the worse off so we may learn something from his blood."

"Ok," Matsumoto agreed somewhat reluctantly, her taicho was not going to like this. Needles had never been his favorite thing even before he got sick, who knew how he would react now.

As she turned to leave, Unohana called out one last time to her.

"One more thing…please take care of Hanataro."

Matsumoto gazed at the other woman and saw the concern in her eyes. She realized that Unohana truly did understand how she felt what she was going through as her own little one was in danger, just like hers.

She gave a weak smile and nodded, before turning around and hurrying back home.

**A mystery disease, what going to happen?**

**Please review!!! Reviews encourage me to write more even when I'm worn out from my job and college.**

**I know that I haven't updated any of my stories on fanficiton in a few weeks but I have been writing. So I'm proud to present my own blog where I'm posting my original work.**

**Please check it out at link in my profile  
**

**Also a relative of mine is a Christian author so if you like to read that sort of thing check out her blog. Link's also in my profile.  
**

**And don't worry the next chapter will be longer. It just seemed natural to end it there.**


	19. Chapter 19

Shinigami Kids Society 

Chapter 19: Short Returns, The Long Embrace

Hitsugaya shrieked happily when Matsumoto returned. He wiggled out of Ichigo's grip and shakily walked over to her with a big grin plastered on his face. She couldn't help but smile as he wrapped his arms around her waist in warm embrace.

"It's nice when somebody's happy that your home," she thought as she heard him sigh in content.

He was just glad that she was here with him. She stood there for a few moments just letting herself enjoy the happiness of the moment, letting it blot out all the fears and worries around her.

"I'm happy to see you too," she whispered to him.

"Where have you been?" asked Ichigo.

"I was checking on the progress of 4th division," seeing their hopeful looks she added "No they still don't know much but Captain Unohana assures me that they have made progress."

"What a strange disease," Yourichi began, "I've never heard of anything like it. I might sneak back to the living world to ask Urahara if he knows anything."

"They've sealed off travel to living the world though," said Rukia.

"Yea the Old Man and Unohana would kill anybody who broke quarantine," said Renji.

"I have my ways," Yourichi said, flashing her mischievous grin.

All of them wondered what those ways could be but then decided they were better off not knowing.

"How has he been doing?" inquired Matsumoto. The boy in question was just staring up at her; his head slightly tilted as if he was wondering what she was going to do next.

"He's been fine," said Rukia, "Ichigo already fed him and everybody's already taken their meds. The others are watching a movie in the bedroom."

"The little grump actually woke up happy for once," said Ichigo.

Matsumoto placed her hand Hitsugaya's forehead. It was cool.

"It's probably because he's feeling better," she replied.

A hell butterfly flew into the room.

**"All available Captains and Vice-Captains report for an emergency update meeting immediately**"

"Something's up" said Renji, "Let's go," he said to Matsumoto.

As she turned to leave Hitsugaya grabbed to robes and began to whine. His eyes told the story: he **really** did not want her to leave again.

"It's ok little one," she said in her best soothing voice.

She knelt down a little bit to his level, "I'll be right back ok?"

His face looked scared and desperate. He really didn't understand her. Matsumoto thought she could almost tell what was going on in his poor, clouded head: _ she just got back, why does she want to leave me again?_

Part of her wondered how she could do this to him and part of her wondered why in the world she would ever think something like that. He was her taicho. If not for this disease he would never rely on her so much.

"But things are different now," She thought to herself, "For better or worse things can never go back to the way they were."

This ordeal had changed something in her. She wasn't the same lieutenant that first followed her taicho out to the Shinigami Kid's Association. Seeing him there had awoke something in her. All the times before that felt like another lifetime. Back then people hadn't been sad when she left; no one waited for her at home…

"Please I know it's hard but I need you to be strong right now," she said as she gave him another hug.

While she did so she motioned for Ichigo who came and held him back as she stood up and walked out the door. Instead of the screams she had expected she heard only muffled sobs. She peaked behind her. Hitsugaya still stood there with his head hung low; she could see the tears falling from his face.

Her heart lurching in her chest she walked out the door and followed Renji down the corridor.


	20. Chapter 20

Shinigami Kid's Society

Chapter 20: In the Dead of Night

The moon shone brightly in Seireitei as the captains and lieutenants made their way to 1rst division. The buildings of the Seireitei glowed in the glistening light.

As they stood at attention in the great chamber, Renji and Matsumoto could not help but notice the gaps in the formation. As usual the places of the three traitors were empty but now many others were as well. Hitsugaya and Yachiru were of course absent but so were Himanori and Isane. Captain Ukitake was also gone. The Captain Commander didn't look so well either. Instead of standing he sat on a chair, his skin sallow, his breathing heavy.

"Report," he croaked, still managing to sound intimidating and authoritative.

"The disease is spreading at an alarming rate," began Captain Unohana, "Most of the younger shinigami in the Court of Pure Souls have contracted it. The academy has been decimated, every student is ill and most have slipped into a coma."

"But it obviously isn't contained to the young," said Captain Kuchiki, gesturing towards the Captain Commander.

"We are all at risk," said Unohana, "after the young those with comprised bodies began to be ill such as the Captain Ukitake and the Captain Commander but even those who should be healthy are falling ill, my own Lieutenant has fallen to it."

They all looked uneasily at the empty place behind her.

"What have you discovered?" asked the Captain Commander.

"The disease is contained to the Court of Pure Souls so we operating on the premise that it is something environmental. What is most troubling is that the disease is behaving unlike anything we have ever seen. The symptoms are erratic and though similar are different from person to person. Also different groups have different symptoms. None but the young have experienced any of the range of amnestic symptoms we have…"

"Amnestic symptoms!" Captain Kurotsuchi cut in, looking at once both fascinated and troubled, "What amnestic symptoms?"

"Didn't you know?" asked Matsumoto, "One of your own divisions members has lost the memories of everybody he knew."

"I don't keep track of the insects," he replied.

"In to specific memory loss others have experienced personality shifts and blanket memory loss. Some seem to have completely lost their memories; they are blank slates," continued Unohana.

"Do you have any information pertaining to this?" demanded the Captain Commander.

"Of course not," retorted Kurotsuchi, "I was merely curious as to this bizarre set of symptoms."

"Very well, as of this moment all units are to assist the 4th division in its efforts to combat and cure this plague," commanded the Captain Commander.

"Dismissed!"

Kenpachi stopped Matsumoto on her way out to ask about Yachiru. After ensuring the big man that his little lieutenant was doing well and was not experiencing any of the memory problems like the others she went over too 13th division to see Captain Ukitake as Kiyone would be distraught to learn that her captain was sick and she was not there to help him. Ukitake was ill much like the commander but he was not experiencing anything like the young ones were. He just seemed to be feverish and he had a bad cough. After receiving his firm orders to make sure that Kiyone remained with her, Matsumoto headed back to her own quarters.

Unohana remained for a while with the remaining captains organizing them into specific groups for labor. Captain Kurotsuchi had slipped right as the meeting had ended.

"That man," she hissed, she could really use the science division's help on this.

"I'll see to him later," she told herself.

She quickly assigned the 11th division to report to the 4th for assignment to the manual labor that they desperately needed. Supplies were desperately needed all over the Court of Pure Souls and they were going to deliver them. She assigned the 5th division messenger squads to go out and gather information. People were falling sick all over the place and she needed an accurate count of who was ill and what condition they were in.

With those preliminary details out of the way she began to make her way back to her division. The Captain Commander had given her a heavy burden. The resources of Soul Society were now at her command and she had to decide how best to effectively use them.

Captain Kurotsuchi and his lieutenant moved quickly through the moonlit streets of Seireitei.

"Nemu, organize a search party immediately and make a sweep of the warehouses," he ordered, "make sure no one sees you and that no word gets out."

"Hai Mayuri-sama," she replied, "What are we looking for?"

"Something impossible but make sure you search every inch and report back to me quickly!"

As she flash stepped away to go organize the search teams Kurotsuchi Mayuri felt the beginnings of a major stress headache beginning.

"If those incompetent fools dared…I'll string them alive and perform surgery on them for the rest of their lives!" he shrieked in rage.


End file.
